No plan to split Mumbai civic body, says Ashok Chavan

MUMBAI - Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan Friday categorically denied that the state government contemplated any move to bifurcate the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM).

“There is no proposal or even a thought on the part of the government over any such move,” Chavan told mediapersons here.

When pointed out that some senior Congress party leaders had made a suggestion to split the MCGM into two entities, Chavan said: “It is the personal view of these leaders.”

Bhai Jagtap, senior Congress leader and legislator from Mumbai, had made the suggestion two days ago to split the MCGM into two entities for better management of the civic affairs of the metropolis.

Besides suggesting the split, Jagtap said that an additional municipal commissioner could be appointed for the sprawling suburbs.

“Despite adequate funds, many infrastructure and other projects are pending or delayed, especially in suburbs. So, I propose to divide Mumbai civic body…Mumbai also has two collectorates,” Jagtap said at a meeting of Mumbai legislators with Chavan.

This immediately snowballed into a major issue, firstly with Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray opposing it, followed by the Nationalist Congress Party leader and Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal and then by Mumbai Mayor Shraddha Jadhav.

There was a furore even in the MCGM Friday with Shiv Sena corporators staging a protest to oppose the bifurcation of the civic body.

The MCGM is one of the biggest and oldest civic bodies in Asia handling a population of nearly 1.5 crore with an annual budget that is higher than that of some smaller Indian states.

“When we can manage a big state like Maharashtra, which has a population of nearly 10.5 crore, I don’t feel such a need (for bifurcation of MCGM) should arise,” Bhujbal, himself a former Mumbai mayor, observed.

“Congress always shows different picture while the truth is something else. The truth is now out with this demand to split the MCGM,” Uddhav Thackeray reacted sharply and vowed that the Shiv Sena would never allow this to happen.

However, the MCGM’s Congress Leader of Opposition Rajhans Singh was more guarded in his response to Jagtap’s suggestion.

“At times when there are meetings in Mumbai…the officials and corporators who are based in far off places like Dahisar or Mulund have to commute all the way to south Mumbai, wasting an entire day,” he noted.

Singh called for senior officials to sit in the MCGM headquarters three days a week and in another suburban headquarters for the remaining three days to attend to local problems on priority basis.