There is no clarity about the functioning of the offices of the four parties – Shiv Sena, BJP, NCP and Congress – in the BMC headquarters. (File) After nearly four decades, starting Tuesday, one of the largest civic corporations in the country, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), will be run by an administrator, who in all likelihood will be Municipal Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal. All committees, namely the statutory standing committee as well as improvement and law committees, will now cease to exist.
Officials said BMC is likely to appoint a committee consisting of four additional commissioners to assist the commissioner. Similar to how proposals were tabled in the 27-member Standing Committee meeting, each department head will present the case to the administrator and the concerned deputy municipal commissioner and ward officers will be invitees. The administrator will have the final say in approving a proposal.
Additional Municipal Commissioner Suresh Kakani, in charge of the civic election department, said that all powers to sanction proposals will now lie with the administrator till elections are held.
“The term of the 227 corporators elected in 2017 will end on midnight of March 7. Corporators will not hold offices like that of the standing committee, improvement committee, law committee chairmen, ward committees and tree authority office of Mayor, among others,” said Kakani. After the 2017 elections, the 227 corporators had held their first general body meeting on March 8, 2017.
However, there is no clarity about the functioning of the offices of the four parties – Shiv Sena, BJP, NCP and Congress – in the BMC headquarters.
While civic officials are confident that daily work will not be hampered, some officials expressed concern about whether the system will be accessible to be people. “Corporators act as shock observers on the ground. They raise issues concerning the people with the right authority, at the right forum. To smoothen the process, BMC has launched a helpline number to address issues like water supply and garbage, among others. However, it is likely not that everyone will be aware of this helpline. Elected representatives are more accessible to the people than civic officials,” said a senior BMC official.
Keeping the upcoming elections in mind and ensuring that there is no vacuum between the people and the elected representatives, parties have asked all their corporators to reach out to the people and be present in their areas. Many fear that not being enough in the public eye could dent their chances in the elections.
In the early 1980s, during the tenure of former municipal commissioner D M Sukthankar (1981-84), the municipal elections were postponed. The term of the corporators had ended in March 1984 and thereon, the state had appointed the municipal commissioner as the “administrator”. This was also the first time when additional municipal commissioners were sent to help the commissioner in the functioning of the civic body.
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