New beautification projects for Mumbai get back-door entry

When municipal commissioner Swadhin Kshatriya spelt out his budgetary plans for this fiscal, he left out new beautification and road works blaming the recession. Claiming the municipal economy was not robust enough at this stage, he stressed on completion of major projects in core areas instead.

But, he had no idea that Mayor Shraddha Jadhav had other plans. Permitted to make amendments up to Rs75 crore in the budget, Jadhav has deviated from the commissioner's line and allocated funds for new work on beautification of gardens, traffic islands, playgrounds, and jogging parks. A list of amendments ratified by Jadhav also includes sizeable allotments for setting up new gymnasiums, welfare centres, and Anganwadis in various wards.

The list, which has been circulated among corporators and sections of the press, has also hiked allotments for similar ongoing projects. None of these projects form a part of BMC's obligatory duties, a senior civic official said.

Differing from Kshatriya's view on even road works, Jadhav has allocated funds for new road improvement work.
Interestingly, to accommodate the changes, allotments set aside for basic civic functions like acquisition of reserved plots, sanitation works, and funds for ongoing road concretisation works under the Mumbai Urban Infrastructure Project (MUIP) have been reduced. Funds allotted for acquisition of reserved plots have been reduced by Rs60 crore, while MUIP road concretisation budget has gone down by Rs10 lakh.

While the modifications suggested have raised eyebrows, the political leadership and contractor lobby, which suffered a setback following Kshatriya’s ‘no free spending’ budget, are not complaining.