Mumbai mayor is getting info on WhatsApp forwards. The real problem is bigger

BMC Central hall : (Credit: Amit Chakravarty)

It’s the latest sign of a monthlong rift between BMC’s elected representatives and its bureaucracy that has flared into three flashpoints. Corporators across parties, including the ruling Mahayuti alliance that Karkar belongs to, say the administration hasn’t adjusted to their return.

The sharpest of the three came last week, when the civic body’s inquiry into the Chembur tree collapse that killed a schoolboy absolved its departments of fault, a finding Mayor Ritu Tawde called “unacceptable” in the House on July 16.

“When this report was published, it was neither tabled before me as the Mayor nor before Hetal Gala who is the chairman of the markets and garden committee,” she said, demanding a re-inquiry.

Tawde said she’d been assured the report would be shared with her, then learned its contents from a WhatsApp message. “I was assured by the authorities that all the reports will be prepared with fairness and that I will be informed. But I never received that report. I found out about the findings through a message circulated on WhatsApp, following which I issued my statements,” she said.

The second came on July 10, when Opposition corporators demanded answers from Bhide over monsoon deaths between June 30 and July 7 linked to civic negligence. Bhide stayed away, and the Opposition protested her “lack of answers”.

BMC Central hall : (Credit: Amit Chakravarty)

The third came days earlier, after 55-year-old Aslam Isaq Shaikh died in an open manhole in Saki Naka: Mumbai BJP chief Ameet Satam warned the administration. “We have demanded that a case of culpable homicide should be taken against the contractor concerned and all supervisory officers of the municipal corporation should be suspended. The administration needs to show more sensitivity while handling the affairs of the city going forward. We would like to give a warning to the administration after this incident,” Satam told reporters.

The city’s 227 corporators, one per ward of 50,000-60,000 people, connect citizens to the administrative wing. That link broke on March 7, 2022, when the House was dissolved and the commissioner took over as administrator until elections concluded in January 2026, the longest such stretch on record. By then, the administration’s old ways were entrenched.

Deputy Mayor Sanjay Ghadi felt the same gap. “There is definitely a gap in coordination and communication between the administration and the elected body. I have submitted several letters on issues, including levelling of roads, request for a bungalow and many public grievances. While commissioner Bhide has met me, I have not received any formal replies to my letters from either the commissioner or the departments concerned. We represent the people and flag their issues. We need to improve this situation,” he told The Indian Express.

Congress leader Ashraf Azmi said: “Four years of administrator rule is a long period. The knowledge of the field that corporators bring was missing. To this date, the administration is not able to get out of their habits. Even though we work on the grass-roots, they speak directly to the state government by bypassing the Mayor, or even the chairmen of special committees,” he told The Indian Express.

A senior civic official called the grievance valid but structural: in the elected body’s absence, the commissioner had exercised its powers.

“The administration had the power of the standing committee and officials had direct access. However, the current system of a democratic body can be time-consuming. Since the administration had been working in a system where sanctions were granted easily, there is now a sense of non-cooperation being felt by the corporators,” the official said on condition of anonymity.

Sachin Padwal, a senior corporator from the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT), put it more bluntly: the administration had “failed to come out of administrator mode”. “Earlier, corporators were the first point of contact for citizens. During the four years without an elected House, officials got used to functioning without consulting us. That mindset has continued even after corporators returned,” he said.

Tawde, who has largely avoided public confrontation with the administration, said: “The system operated without corporators for four years. It will take some time for the administration to get back to the system”, adding that she often has to remind officials that “they have corporators in place”.

Rejecting an institutional breakdown, she said, “I have very good communication with civic commissioner Ashwini Bhide. However, in the case of the Chembur tree collapse report, it was not acceptable at all. I raised this issue with the commissioner and informed her that the report should be reviewed.”

Responding to The Indian Express, Bhide denied any rift, saying the corporation is “commited to maintaining close, constructive and seamless coordination with elected representatives.” She said she regularly attends meetings of the corporation, its standing committees and group leaders’ meetings.

“These interactions provide a valuable platform for dialogue and we actively consider the suggestions and feedback received from the Hon’ble Mayor, Deputy Mayor and corporators. Appropriate suggestions made by the elected representatives are duly taken into consideration and the administration remains committed to implementing the policies and decisions approved by the elected body. Our approach is collaborative, with the shared objective of strengthening civic governance and ensuring better service delivery for the citizens of Mumbai,” said Bhide on Wednesday.