Citizens recall contributions of KMC's first administrator
Kolhapur: Dwarkanath Kapoor was the first administrator of Kolhapur civic body, from 1972 to 1975, after it achieved the status of a corporation from a municipal council.Even after 50 years, many in Kolhapur still recall his immense contribution to the city. Kapoor contributed to building markets, beautification of Rankala Lake, building Savitribai Phule Hospital, development plan (DP) roads and gardens. He roped in architects and engineers for Sundar Kolhapur initiative.Kolhapur Municipal Corporation (KMC) has been under the charge of an administrator for the last four-and-a-half years as the term of the civic body ended in Nov 2020.Mahadevrao Adgule, a dformer KMC mayor, said, "You name any project in Kolhapur, and you will find most of them were built during Kapoor's time or his ideas were later implemented. He implemented the development plan and got major roads constructed. He used to be on the field most of the time during his tenure."Bhupal Shete, a former corporator, said, "If Kapoor had not been the administrator, then there would not have been any roads in slums. He was very keen on keeping the city clean. He refused staffers at his official residence, and instead deployed them for public works. Officers and staffers used to fear and respected him in equal measure. When I started work for leprosy patients, he helped me a lot. I remember him being present for cremation of a leprosy patient in KMC-run crematorium as the workers there refused to cremate leprosy patients."Kapoor envisioned making Bhausingji Road, connecting New Palace with Bhavani Mandap a 'royal street'. However, it could not happen because he was transferred to Mantralaya.An apartment building constructed by him for KMC workers now bears his name. Also, a school in Ganjimal is named after him. Such an honour has hardly been given to any civic chief in Kolhapur so far.People in Kolhapur think that had Kapoor been in charge of the civic body during this period, the city would have looked much better and different.
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