Mumbai: With the elections to the BMC polls almost round the corner, the BJP is going all out to capture the richest civic body in the country with an annual budget of Rs 75,000 cr budget. In the run-up to the polls, the BJP high command has handpicked 49-year-old MLA from Andheri Ameet Satam to head the Mumbai unit of the party.
Management graduate vastly influenced by Art of Living guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, the tough-built legislator who bagged the ``Outstanding Parliamentarian Award" at the hands of the President, Satam dropped in at the FPJ office on Monday after for a tete-a-tete. Excerpts:
Q. This is the first BMC elections the BJP without its long-term ally, the Thackeray-led Shiv Sena. Do you feel the the breakdown of the alliance and the split in the Shiv Sena will result in the division of Hindu votes?
A: The Shiv Sena-BJP alliance was on the common ideology of Hindutva, which the Uddhav Thackeray’s faction sacrificed and joined hands with the Congress and NCP (Sharad Pawar). We reformed the alliance in 2022, when 44 out of 54 Shiv Sena MLAs joined hands with the BJP. Today, Hindu votes are with the BJP and Shiv Sena, operating on the ideology of Balasaheb Thackeray. Thus, there is no question of division of Hindu votes. The Uddhav Thackeray faction is following the ideology of appeasement politics now.
Q. With the Shiv Sena (UBT) and MNS likely to ally, will it be a challenge for Mahayuti to attract Marathi voters?
A: They may come together or not. It really doesn't bother us. Because it is not going to make any difference to the poll outcome. What makes a difference is who has done work on the ground.
Q. Will Mahayuti contest the BMC elections together? If yes, how many seats will each party get?
A: Yes, BJP, Shiv Sena, NCP and RPI (A) Mahayuti will fight all 227 seats in the BMC election. The allotment of seats will be decided on the basis of local strength of each party and the the sentiment prevailing in the constituencies.
Q: What are the top three promises on the basis of which you will be appealing for votes?
A: First is infrastructure development on the lines of Coastal Road, Atal Setu, Navi Mumbai Airport and Mumbai Metro. Secondly, we aim to give corruption-free and transparent administration in the BMC, which was lacking from 1997 to 2022. The BMC has seen a visionless and corrupt administration. And the third promise will be the safety and security of Mumbaikars. We see that other international cities in the West are facing invasion from some fundamental, radical elements. We want to preserve the identity of Mumbai and protect it from such radical elements.
Q. When will the BJP release its poll manifesto?
A. We have launched a Google form- an online platform ‘Awaaz Mumbaikarancha’ for people to fill in their expectations from their corporators. It started onSeptember 17 and Mumbaikars can fill it till November 17. BJP workers are going to every section of society and asking them to fill out the forms. We will collate the data and come up with our election manifesto. Our manifesto will be Mumnaikars’ manifesto.
Q. Will Mumbai ever get pothole-free roads?
A: In the next five years, Mumbai will be pothole-free. There are two main reasons why the roads in Mumbai are not good: the quality of work and the fact that different utility agencies dig the same road multiple times. To avoid this, there is a need for a utility corridor. In September 2022, then CM Eknath Shinde announced to concretise all roads in Mumbai, and 50% of the work has been completed so far. Once the work is completed, along with utility corridors on every road, the problem of potholes will be resolved. The roads below 9 meters do not need to be concretised; they can be made using mastic asphalt.
Q. How do you plan to deal with the hawkers' menace in Mumbai?
A: Firstly, we will form a town vending committee and create a hawkers zone. We will shift hawkers to their designated areas.
Q. In Mumbai, parking and pollution are major issues. What steps will you take to curb them?
A: As far as parking is concerned, in the DCPR 2034 parking lots can be constructed below existing grounds and gardens. Two such projects were proposed, but faced resistance. But going forward, we need to identify plots in Mumbai, where underground parking lots can be made.
Air pollution in Mumbai is higher as the entire city is going through development. The major step to curb pollution is to follow strict norms at the construction sites.
Q. The state government recently announced a new policy to grant an occupation certificate (OC), which is likely to benefit 25,000 buildings where residents are staying illegally without OC. How will the new policy work?
A: Cabinet minister Ashish Shelar has called the committee’s meeting, which is formed under BJP leader Gopal Shetty. Soon, a government resolution (GR) will be issued, which will provide concessions to buildings whose OC is stuck due to reasons such as land transfer or other issues that are beyond the occupants' control.
Q. What is your plan to strengthen BMC financially?
A: If corruption in the corporation is reduced substantially , the BMC will be strengthened financially.
Q. But the hard fact is that BMC is controlled by six major contractors. Whichever party the people vote for, this syndicate of contractors dominate. What are your views?
A: We tried to break the contractor nexus to a very large extent when we came out with the cement-concrete road tenders, where we incorporated certain conditions under which only large infrastructure companies could bid. I am not saying that we have eliminated it completely but at least we are making a sincere effort to break the back of this syndicate of contractors which has emerged in the past 20-25 years.
Q. Several public hospitals in Mumbai are in bad condition, the staff also misbehave with patients. Please comment.
A: It is a fact that the public hospitals are overburdened. But the main thing is to train the front-line staff. We have best doctors, but behaving well with the patients, their relatives and sanitation is main. We are already teaching soft skills to the staff at Cooper hospital.
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