BMC in 2022: Under administrator rule, no Mayor and much more

This year we saw Asia’s richest civic body going under a state-appointed administrator’s rule after the civic body election was deferred. This is the first time since 1984, the elected body of public representatives was dissolved. It was only the administrator who was calling the shots for all the administrative and executive decisions.

No Mayor in the civic body

In 2022, we also saw the municipal body operating without an incumbent Mayor. While the role of a Mayor in BMC is mainly ceremonial, yet the Mayor plays a key role in bridging the gap between the citizens and the administration. The position of the Mayor was dissolved after the deferment of the civic election in the city.

Water For All Policy

This year, the BMC-led administration, at the behest of the former Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), initiated the Water For All policy, aiming to provide water supply to some of the unmapped settlements in Mumbai, which includes slum clusters as well as Gaothan and Koliwada settlements, which didn’t have legal water connection and were mainly dependent on shared supply or tankers.

While the BMC had maintained that this policy was launched under humanitarian grounds and documents pertaining to water connection will not be considered as proof of ownership in any property, political observers look at it as a political motive ahead of the civic body election.

Concretisation of Mumbai roads

This year, we saw the BMC floating a Rs 6,000 crore tender to concretise nearly 400 km of roads in the city to make them pothole free. The BMC’s decision to float a tender came after Chief Minister Eknath Shinde announced that the city roads will be free of potholes in the next one year. This is the highest ever in terms of cost tender that has been floated till date for the improvement works of roads.

Possession of Eastern Express Highway and Western Express Highway

This year, for the first time, the BMC took possession of the EEH and the WEH which are major arterial roads in the city. These roads were earlier managed by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority and Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation, however, since these roads fall under the BMC’s jurisdiction, the civic body often was at the receiving end after bad patches and potholes appeared on these roads. The BMC had also demanded the Bombay High Court, to make it the sole planning body of all the roads in Mumbai to ensure they are maintained in a better way.

Scrapping of tenders worth Rs 7,000 crore

Soon after the sudden change in the state government this year, we saw the BMC administration scrapping some of the major tenders related to several infrastructure and civic amenity works. Some of these tenders include setting up an aquarium at the Byculla Zoo, a tender for road trenching works, a tender for starting virtual classrooms in BMC schools and one for upgrading the Deonar Abattoir. It is pertinent to note that the BJP, which was earlier in the Opposition, had raised objections against these projects citing corruption.

Completion of the first underground tunnel for the Coastal Road Project

This year, BMC finished digging the first-ever underground tunnel of the 10.58 km long Coastal Road that will connect Girgaon Chowpatty with Priyadarshini Park in Malabar Hill. The BMC aims to complete the entire Coastal Road by November 2023 and completion of the final and second underground is set to be finished by March-end.

Mumbai Beautification Plan

After taking charge of the state, Eknath Shinde had announced plans to beautify Mumbai, following which the BMC earmarked a Rs 1,700 crore plan for the same. As a part of this plan, several traffic medians and public spaces are being beautified and illuminated. The BMC has also promised to create murals and improve abused public spaces under this programme.

Preparedness for the G-20 summit

This year we saw the BMC transforming selective portions of the city by beautifying the roads, cleaning bad patches and removing waste from open spaces round the clock with international delegates visiting the city. The civic body in just 15 days not just carried out these beautification works but also removed hawkers and encroachments from various public spaces. However, soon after the delegates left the city, everything went back to square one. Meanwhile, the citizens criticised the BMC’s selective approach towards carrying out developmental works.