The BMC has also identified two locations for setting up a new ward office for K-north. For K-south, the existing administrative building of K-east ward, which is located near Andheri Railway Station in Andheri east, will be used. Mumbai is set to get two new administrative wards for better management of civic services and governance. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has proposed to bifurcate and restructure K-east ward (Andheri east) in western suburb and L ward (Kurla) in the eastern part of the city.
While K-east comprises areas like Andheri east, Jogeshwari east, Vile Parle east and Marol, L-ward covers areas from Kurla, Chuna Bhatti, Sakinaka and Chandivali. Both are among the biggest administrative wards out of total 24 spread across the city managing daily services such as water supply, waste management, birth and death certificates, nullah cleaning and road repairs.
The BMC had appointed a two-member committee of joint municipal commissioners Bharat Marathe and Sunil Dhamne for bifurcation of big wards, which proves challenging in terms of providing civic services due to large geographical area and high population. As per the report, K-east ward has a population of 8.23 lakh residents living in 16.75 sq km area and has 15 corporators.
L ward, spread in 15.62 sq meters with a population of 8.99 lakh population, has 16 corporators. “Given the population size and area under these two wards, the existing machinery is proving insufficient for providing services. Following this, the BMC has decided to bifurcate these wards,” said an official from the civic body.
On Tuesday, the proposal was tabled in group leaders meeting for approval but it was not discussed.
According to the proposal, the committee has proposed to divide K-east ward into K-south and K-north. There are 15 electoral wards under K-east and after division, seven will be included in K-south and remaining eight in K-north ward.
The BMC has also identified two locations for setting up a new ward office for K-north. For K-south, the existing administrative building of K-east ward, which is located near Andheri Railway Station in Andheri east, will be used.
Similarly, the committee has decided to divide L ward into L-south and L-north. Of the total 16 electoral wards, nine wards will be added in L-north and the rest seven wards in L-south ward.
Existing L ward office near Kurla railway station, Kurla west, will be turned into L-south ward while new office for L-north ward will be developed in the BMC’s existing building in Chandivali.
Earlier, the BMC had decided to bifurcate the city’s biggest ward — P-north (Malad) – into two. The civic body had also made provision of Rs 5 crore for bifurcation work in the budget 2021-22. However, the bifurcation is yet to be completed. P-north ward has the highest number of corporators – 18 – with a population of about 10 lakh.
After approval from group leaders meeting, the proposal will be tabled before the Law Committee and Civic house.
“The proposal was in the agenda of the group leaders meeting but it has not come up for discussion,” Prabhakar Shinde, BJP group leader said.
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