Mumbai, July 4 (IANS) The Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray on Saturday claimed that the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) administration has allegedly fallen into the hands of corrupt elements, leading to a complete collapse of civic life in the city following the initial spells of monsoon rain.

In a scathing editorial in the party mouthpiece Saamana, the Thackeray camp said Mumbai’s crumbling civic infrastructure has already claimed two innocent lives.

In Chembur, a young schoolboy was killed after a tree fell onto a school bus, while in the Sakinaka area, a 60-year-old man met a tragic end after falling into an open and unguarded manhole.

“Public outrage is mounting, with demands that instead of merely seeking the resignation of BMC Commissioner Ashwini Bhide, cases of culpable homicide should be registered against the political rulers governing the civic body. Those who routinely criticised the Shiv Sena are now realising the party’s importance in managing the BMC,” it said.

The editorial said that the ongoing crisis has exposed the alleged hypocrisy, cruelty, and corruption of the ruling BJP and its allies. Under the previous Shiv Sena administration, local corporators held significant influence and maintained strict vigilance over their respective areas.

However, the resurgence of an unaccountable system has reportedly given rise to a culture of kickbacks, where commissions from private contractors are being actively distributed among corrupt functionaries, it added.

The crisis has triggered severe infighting within the ruling alliance. Deputy Mayor Sanjay Ghadi, belonging to the Shinde faction of the Shiv Sena, sparked controversy by demanding the BMC commissioner’s resignation, holding her solely responsible for the city’s plight.

“Critics have labelled this demand as intellectual bankruptcy, pointing out that Eknath Shinde himself heads the Urban Development Ministry. While the rampant corruption and high-handedness of contractors are directly blamed for these fatal accidents, Commissioner Bhide is also criticised for failing to curb the brokerage and corruption, thereby bearing the responsibility for the two fatalities,” said the editorial.

Furthermore, the Thackeray camp claimed that amid the governance vacuum, political distractions have emerged.

A BJP leader from Mulund, mockingly referred to as ‘Popatlal’, has been frequenting the BMC headquarters to pressure the commissioner into evicting Bangladeshi immigrants — a task that legally falls under the jurisdiction of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs.

“Instead of playing political games in the BMC, he should question Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi, as these political stunts have stalled essential civic amenities, resulting in the loss of innocent lives,” it said.

According to the editorial, the pre-monsoon preparedness of the BMC has come under severe scrutiny. The civic body failed to clean drains, repair roads, or trim dangerous tree branches in time, leading to widespread uprooting of trees and massive traffic gridlocks across the city.

“Mayor Ritu Tawde had officially declared that 104 per cent of the drain desilting work had been completed before the monsoon. Critics have questioned the mathematical logic behind a “104 per cent completion” figure, asking where the extra 4 per cent came from, noting that the city remains at the mercy of the government’s favoured contractors,” it noted.

While the commissioner is widely known as Mumbai’s “Metro Woman” for overseeing the construction of underground metro tunnels, her tenure has come under intense scrutiny over the civic body’s failure to tackle potholes and carry out effective desilting.

Amid mounting criticism, Bhide directed the police to register cases against negligent contractors whose alleged lapses resulted in the loss of lives, the editorial said.

–IANS

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