Chief Minister Narayan Rane had ordered Nand Lal to probe the functioning of the UMC on March 5 this year following a three-part series in Express Newsline on insanitation, illegal constructions and the politician-criminal nexus at UMC.

Confirming that he had sought an extension for two months, Nand Lal said: ``The CM has agreed on it.'' According to him, the extension was required because ``a better part of the last two months was taken away by the Assembly session.''

He maintained he would continue to identify illegal constructions, so that the encroachment control department could take action. ``The problems of insanitation and the criminal-politician nexus are linked to illegal constructions. Once these are controlled, other problemswill be automatically addressed,'' he said.

Meanwhile, in another development, former BMC commissioners S S Tinaikar and T M Sukhtankar have submitted their report on the sanitary conditions in Ulhasnagar to the Bombay High Court. The HC, which is hearing a petition seeking judicial intervention to ``stop the virtual non-governance by the UMC'' had asked Tinaikar and Sukhtankar to visit the township and report on steps taken by UMC to clean up Ulhasnagar.

Expressing satisfaction over the clean-up, the report, however, questions if the UMC will be able to sustain the drive in the long term. ``There are no systems in place to take care of garbage clearance on a day-to-day basis,'' the report says.

The next hearing of the case is on May 20, 1999.