Mumbai: Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray held two separate meetings with the party corporators and administration of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Thursday and Friday to share his new year resolve: to make Mumbai a better-living city. He emphasized the need to step up efforts to keep Mumbai clean and garbage-debris free. CM Thackeray, also a photographer and an artist, made a strong pitch for strengthening Mumbai's aesthetic and character while rolling out development programmes.
His call for the administration and corporators was to further improve the coordination with several agencies including Railways, Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA), Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC), Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT) and Slum Rehabilitation Authority for providing much-needed amenities to Mumbaikars.
Thackeray reiterated his proposal for BMC as single planning authority for Mumbai instead of multiple authorities including the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Authority, Slum Rehabilitation Authority, and Mumbai Port Trust. Thackeray argued that BMC, with its administrative setup and financial position, can play an effective role to expedite city development. He, however, hinted MMRDA can continue to be the planning authority for the Bandra Kurla Complex, which is a planned business district in and the leading commercial hub.
Urban Development Department bureaucrat told FPJ, "CM insisted that all authorities need to jointly work for providing world class amenities and BMC, in particular, should carry out development as per the Development Control Rules. That will not be restricted just to roads and pavements but also green belts, beautification under flyovers. This will also help attract more tourists.'' The officer said CM wanted the administration to come out with a policy for the display of posters and banners so that the public places won't be defaced.
A Shiv Sena corporator said a committee headed by senior corporators will soon be formed in all 227 wards to increase awareness among the citizens for cleanliness and also for the improvement in the works undertaken by the administration.
''These committees will also make efforts to improve coordination with other agencies. Besides, senior corporators will work with the party legislators for better coordination so that the state government's intervention can be sought urgently. These committees will also pursue early disbursement of BMC's long-pending dues from the state government,'' he noted.
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