Kunte says he will ‘firewall’ BMC to protect its image

“I am trying to study public procurement laws that will help streamline perversions that have crept into the suppliers-builders and contractors system. Now,what is being seen is that they are able to influence the integrity of the BMC. There should be proper firewall or barrier so that these three categories of people do not tweak laws and the system,” said Kunte.

While maintaining that his first priority would be implementing the newly drafted Development Control Regulations (DCR) and preparing future Development Plan (DP) for the city taking into account needs of citizens,he said an area that needs looking into is requirements of pedestrians.

Though the civic administration has worked to give more space to vehicles,not much has been thought about pedestrians. Emphasising this,Kunte said,“There are school children,senior citizens for whom ample pedestrian space needs to be provided. This will be ensured in the new DP,” he said.

Other focus areas include the coastal road,the Mulund-Goregaon link road,bottlenecks on major roads and congested areas,open space requirements,health service,the implementation of the RTE Act and protection of heritage structures,said Kunte.

The commissioner also reiterated that pothole repairs,which is an area of concern,would be done based on expert STAC committee recommendations.

“In my interaction with the citizens,I found out that gardens and tourist spots were not cleaned properly. There is a need for a committee to concentrate on beautification and maintaining cleanliness of tourist spots and open spaces,” said Kunte.