MLAs fail to question crime

Krishnakumar Hegde of Congress, Milind Kamble of NCP, Prakash Sawant of Sena, Baba Siddiqui of Congress and former Mumbai Congress chief Kripashankar Singh, who represent the north-central zone that includes the suburbs of Santacruz, Bandra and Kurla, asked 65 crime questions in assembly sessions between April 2011 and March 2012, a period in which 6,736 police cases were registered in these areas.

The data gathered through RTI applications seeking to know the number of questions asked by MLAs on police personnel and infrastructure was released Tuesday.

MLAs from the north-central region, which includes Mulund, Ghatkopar and Shivaji Nagar in Deonar, fared better, with Sardar Tara Singh and Prakash Mehta of BJP, Mangesh Sangle, Shishir Shinde and Ramchandra Kadam of MNS and Samajwadi Party leader Abu Azmi asking 440 questions as against 4,310 recorded crimes.

Prakash Sawant led the field with 47 questions in the last three sessions, while Kripashankar Singh and Milind Kamble were at the bottom asking two and zero questions.

However, the MLAs did not ask even one question on rape, housebreaks, accidents and vehicle thefts — crimes the north-central zone tops in.