A day after he was prevented from giving an e-speech in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) council hall, Shiv Sena corporator Avkash Jadhav gave the speech using a laptop on Wednesday.

This was the first time that any corporator used a laptop to deliver a speech. On Wednesday, dna had reported that though the BMC has given laptops to all its corporators, the civic body doesn't want them to use it. The BMC administration had rejected permission to Jadhav for giving an e-speech in the civic general body meeting, citing technical reasons.

"I still gave my speech using the laptop that was provided to us by the BMC. Had they installed a projector, all other corporators could have taken part. I wanted to make an e-speech, so that I could give statistics on BEST," Jadhav said.

Jadhav, a history professor at St Xavier's College, had written to mayor Snehal Ambekar, requesting her to allow him to deliver an e-speech. Officials from the mayor's office, however, said she could not allow an e-speech, since the municipal secretary's department had not made any provisions for a laptop-based presentation.

With an aim to reduce the paper work and provide online access to civic proposals, the BMC had in 2012 given all its 227 corporators laptops fitted with a customised software. The civic body spent over Rs7.5 crore on the laptops. Corporators, however, complained that due to the lack of Internet and software services, they were unable to use the laptops.

"If we are allowed to use laptops and give presentations as part of the budget speech, we will be able to present our views better. Only then will the BMC actually go digital. I revealed details of a survey of 1,200 BEST bus conductors and drivers on the problems faced by them," Jadhav said.