The two departments will be merged and become a single entity like the Delhi Jal Board.
Soon, neither the Sena-BJP nor the Congress-NCP will be able to eye the Rs22,000 crore annual budget of Asia’s richest civic body — the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).
Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan has decided to wrest the BMC’s two major departments — hydraulic and sewerage — from it and form an entity along the lines of the Delhi Jal Board.
Top Mantralaya sources said these two departments will be merged into one. “With the budget of both departments totalling to over Rs5,000 crore, they will directly come under the chief minister. To execute the plan, the BMC recently appointed a London-based consultancy firm, Deloitte, at a cost of Rs49 lakh for an in-depth report. We want to complete the process soon,” a Mantralaya official said.
Rajiv Jalota, additional municipal commissioner (project), said, “The consultancy firm will submit its interim report within two months and a full report in the next six months. It will do a comparison study of hydraulic and sewerage operations in India and other countries. Our focus is to augment the city’s water supply and improve the sewerage operation,” he said.
Senior civic officials in the hydraulic department said that after the separation, and the subsequent merger, government may privatise the new body. “This can affect 13,483 civic employees, as there may be a hierarchy problem. Also, as our appointments will be done by the state government, it will create chaos and confusion in the minds of the civic employees,” said Sainath Rajadhyaksha, general secretary of BMC’s engineers union.
Chavan and BMC chief Subodh Kumar orchestrated the plan by keeping information under the carpet. “If the cost of the project or consultancy firm is more than Rs50 lakh, it is mandatory for the civic administration to moot the proposal before its standing committee,” said Rajadhyaksha.
“However, in this case the consultancy firm’s fee has been kept Rs49 lakh. So, as per civic law, the BMC chief has special powers to approve the firm’s appointment without the standing committee’s approval.” He added that the administration deliberately avoided the standing committee route. “Because once the proposal goes to the committee, the matter becomes public.”
Ravindra Waikar, Sena MLA and corporator, said the Congress wants to divide Mumbai and Marathi manoos. “Separating two major departments from the BMC is the first step towards dividing the city. We will raise this issue and oppose the move,” he said.
“The chief minister wants control over the state as well as of the city with this move. Earlier, by setting up the MMRDA, the government snatched the main city roads (the expressways) and bridges. And now, even though it does not have the manpower, it wants more BMC departments.”
Sharad Rao, BMC workers union leader, said, “The hydraulic and sewerage departments have been working efficiently for the several decades. This is an unnecessary move by the chief minister.”
However, Chavan seems to have found support in an activist who did not wish to be named. “If the city gets more and adequate water by this separation, we welcome the move. BMC is a mammoth body, which should be divided as that will ease its load. As long as people get better facilities, any such government decision is welcome,” he said.
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