Within the BMC, there are four statutory committees namely the standing committee, improvement committee, BEST and the education committees. What makes these committees important is that they decide and approve finances for core matters pertaining to the city’s infrastructure, education, public transport like BEST among others. Among the four, standing committee is the most powerful as it controls the BMC’s purse strings with the powers to invite tenders, alter contracts, withdraw funds etc.
The four statutory committees are headed by a chairperson each.
While Sena’s Sandhya Doshi and Trushna Vishwasrao were announced as the chairpersons of improvement committee and BEST committee on Monday, BJP’s senior corporators Prabhakar Shinde and Rajshri Shirwadkar were elected as chairpersons to the standing committee and education committee unopposed on February 20.
As the new house of representatives takes shape, The Indian Express spoke to the newly elected chairpersons of the core statutory committees, who offered insights into their key focus areas.
Prabhakar Shinde: Standing Committee
Prabhakar Shinde is the first-ever corporator from the BJP to become the chairperson in BMC’s most important statutory committee–the standing committee. Speaking to the Indian Express, Shinde said that besides keeping a check on BMC’s finances, his most important priority will be to boost Mumbai’s water supply.
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“Since 2014, no new sources of water was added for Mumbai. Meanwhile, the demand for potable water keeps increasing. Therefore, besides pushing for infrastructure development, my priority would be to ensure that the city’s water supply sources are augmented. For which, I will personally monitor the Gargai Dam project,” Shinde told Express. He also added that the issue of waterlogging will be monitored by him.
“The desilting scam has emerged to be a massive blot in BMC’s record in the past four years. Therefore, I will keep a close watch on who these desilting projects are being awarded to, because my only objective is to reduce waterlogging in Mumbai as much as possible during the tenure,” he added.
Rajashree Shirwadkar: Education Committee
Rajashree Shirwadkar, a three-time corporator from the BJP said that being the chairperson of BMC’s education committee, her main agenda would be to boost the existing infrastructure in all municipal schools in Mumbai, while at the same time beholding the Marathi Asmita.
“My first priority would be to upgrade the existing infrastructure and facilities in all municipal schools of Mumbai. New laboratories will be introduced along with all modernised facilities. At the same time, Marathi language will be made an integral part of the curriculum. We will make sure that all municipal schools are at par with private schools in terms of facilities,” Shirwadkar said.
Further, she also added that her another objective would be to ensure the existing civic schools are not privatised.
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“Today (Monday) was my first day in the office and I have already asked for a detailed report about what all have happened in the education department in the past four years,” she added.
Sandhya Doshi: Improvement Committee
Shiv Sena’s Sandhya Doshi, who has been elected as a corporator for four consecutive terms starting in 2007, previously served as chairperson of education committee between 2020 and 2022. Having now taken charge as the chairperson of the improvements committee, Doshi said that reservation of plots, fast-tracking redevelopment works and augmenting revenue through property will be a key focus area during her term.
“My key agenda will be to continuously pursue the acquisition and development of land reserved for public purposes as per the DP 2034. If a plot is reserved for schools, then we will work for development of schools there within prescribed time frame. Similarly, it will be my key focus to provide facilities like playgrounds, parks, hospitals, markets on their reserved plots to aid Mumbaikars. We will work towards clearing the roads of hawkers and allocating the authorised vendors space within the market lands,” said Doshi.
On fast-tracking redevelopment projects, she added that the committee will work towards formulating a concrete redevelopment policy to prevent frequent change of hands among developers and stalled projects.
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The first meeting of improvements committee, with 26 members and its chairperson, is slated for February 27.
Trushna Vishwasrao: BEST Committee
The first woman corporator to become the leader of the house, Trushna Vishwasrao of Shiv Sena on Monday took charge of her new portfolio as the chairperson of the BEST committee. While taking over her new role, Vishwasrao said that improving transport efficiency is the need of the hour.
“It is necessary to make the public transport system more efficient. It is crucial to improve last mile connectivity and connecting all public transport options like BEST, Metro, Monorail, railway lines with each other. We will taking concrete measures to achieve this through the BEST committee,” said Vishwasrao.
