‘Mark day for celebrating establishment of BMC’

Incidentally,on September 4 this year,the corporation completed 140 years as a public institution.

2 min readMumbaiSep 18, 2013 01:30 AM IST First published on: Sep 18, 2013 at 01:30 AM IST

To honour India’s first established municipal body,Shiv Sena corporator Anuradha Pednekar has moved a notice of motion in the civic general body,demanding the recognition of ‘MCGM (Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai) Day’ to celebrate the establishment of BMC.

According to Pednekar,September 4 should be recognised as ‘MCGM Day (or Mumbai Mahapallika Din)’,as on this date in 1873,the first-ever municipal general-body meeting in the country was held here. Incidentally,on September 4 this year,the corporation completed 140 years as a public institution.

“If we can have a BEST (Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport undertaking) day every year on August 7,which is a subsidiary of the corporation,why can’t we have a day to celebrate the establishment of the corporation itself? BEST was formed much later than BMC in 1947. Today,BMC is the oldest civic body in India and has the distinction of being Asia’s richest civic body with its current budget over Rs 27,000 crore,” said Pednekar,a corporator from L ward (comprising the Kurla area) and a member of the standing committee.

She added,“I researched before making this demand. BMC is a great organisation and we should make Mumbaikars more aware and proud of its own heritage.”

The corporator said instead of adding to the already brimming list of public holidays that 60,000 civic employees enjoy every year,BMC should strategise for a small cultural programme. “On this day,we can facilitate engineers,doctors and NGOs who have rendered exceptional services for civic institutions. This an opportunity for the corporation to show citizens it is capable of doing something different,” Pednekar said.

Mayor Sunil Prabhu,who presides over the general body meetings in the BMC approved the proposal on a condition. “It is a good proposal and I endorse it only if the BMC does not use such a day for private entertainment. Instead,through this we could rouse public participation in the city’s civic affairs,” Prabhu said.