Changes galore in BMC after Shinde-Fadnavis govt takes over

In the last three months, the BMC has scrapped tenders of various infrastructure projects worth Rs 6,921 crore in all. Many of these projects were backed by now Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) MLA Aaditya Thackeray.

The BMC administration, earlier this month, called for fresh tenders for creating two underground tunnels for its ambitious Goregaon Mulund Link Road project, after scrapping the previous tenders floated when the MVA was in power, citing technical reasons.

It had also scrapped a Rs 402-crore tender for revamping and upgrading the Deonar abattoir by citing fundamental errors in July. The project — aimed at upgrading the existing abattoir by setting up modernised machinery and refrigeration system — met with opposition from the BJP, which alleged financial irregularities.

Besides, the BMC had scrapped a Rs 160-crore tender for creating a tunnel laundry and a Rs 90-crore tender for creating virtual classrooms across 400 civic schools in Mumbai between July and September citing technical constraints. The virtual classroom initiative was also one of Aaditya’s pet project.

In July, the BMC had scrapped a Rs 44-crore tender floated to create a world class aquarium in the Veermata Jijabai Bhosale Udhyan (Byculla zoo) — another project backed by MVA and opposed by BJP — alleging cost escalation and possible cartelisation of contractors.

However, BMC officials have maintained that tenders for some of the projects may be re-floated soon.

Tweaking of old projects

During the MVA regime, Aaditya, who was also the former guardian minister of Mumbai, had proposed the idea of implementing “tactical urbanism (TU)” across city and mentioned the same in the budget document for the ongoing financial year. Under this project, the BMC planned to beautify and transform unused public spaces into usable spaces.

However, after the Shinde government came to power, the BMC announced a ‘Mumbai Beautification Plan’ in similar lines with the TU plan. The BMC now plans to beautify the city’s roads, footpaths, skywalks, bridges and promenades in the next three months.

The administration has earmarked Rs 1,700 crore for this project, which is almost equivalent to the BMC’s annual budget for road maintenance. As part of this project, the BMC has created a similar provision for installing street furniture, street lighting and resurfacing footpaths.

However, BMC officials said that the TU and the Mumbai Beautification Plan are two different projects. “The beautification plan is different from the TU plan. Under the TU plan, we were working towards uplifting the ease of living standards in Mumbai, while the beautification plan is more about illuminating the city to raise its visual appeal,” said a senior official.

Transfer of civic officials

After the Shinde government came to power, the BMC administration saw multiple transfers of senior officials. The transfer orders also saw reversal within days of them being issued.

The Opposition perceived that such frequent reversal of transfer orders was the result of senior officials putting pressure on the BMC.

Officials like deputy municipal commissioner (DMC) Vijay Balamwar, DMC Sangita Hasnale and assistant municipal commissioner Kiran Dighavkar were transferred multiple times in a matter of days.

What public representatives say

Ravi Raja, former leader of Opposition and Congress corporator in BMC, said: The administration had announced several projects influenced by the previous government. Now, with a change in government, it is scrapping these projects so that it can float new tenders for projects that will be favoured for the new regime. Today, the electoral body in BMC has also been dissolved… we cannot question the administration as well since the body is being now run by a state-appointed administrator.”

Vinod Mishra, former BJP corporator and group leader of the party in BMC, said: “The projects that are being cancelled were once considered as ambitious and futuristic by the former government. But today, the administration is cancelling these tenders by citing technical or fundamental errors. It means that either the BMC didn’t analyse properly before floating tenders and was only taking orders from the government or maybe that it doesn’t care about public money.”

What BMC says

A senior official said that the decisions taken by BMC in the last three months were not politically influenced. “The tenders were cancelled on merit… this doesn’t mean that we have shelved these projects permanently. We will float new tenders soon after reconsidering certain technical aspect of each project. There has been instances of tenders of projects being cancelled before before finally taking off, so these are usual procedures,” said the official.

“Even the decision of transfers were taken by analysing certain organisational parameters. All officers who have been transferred had completed their tenure. Transfers is important to ensure that the civic administration functions smoothly.”