BJP's Smart City is Shiv Sena's playground

The Smart City proposal is set to be to tabled at the general body meeting of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Tuesday.

All political parties – be it the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) or the Samajwadi Party – are gearing up to oppose it.

"We will not allow the proposal to get approved, come what may," declared Trushna Vishwasrao, leader of the Sena in the BMC.

On Monday evening, an hour-long brainstorming session between the BJP and Shiv Sena took place at the Mayor's residence. Sena president Uddhav Thackeray and municipal commissioner Ajoy Mehta also participated.
Instead of Smart Cities, sources say that the Sena prefers a Recreation Ground and Playground policy for Mumbai. The BJP is opposed to this.

At least four senior Sena leaders control prime plots in western suburbs and have developed health clubs and gymnasiums and charge heavy membership fees. Sena wants corporate houses, big NGOs and charitable trusts to adopt open spaces. However, once these open spaces are doled out to private parties, BMC will have no control over the plots.

On the Smart City proposal, the Sena's argument is that when the BMC already has a surplus budget of Rs 33,000 crore annually, the Rs 500 crore the Centre is promising for the project for five years doesn't mean anything.

Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's pet project that envisages 100 Smart Cities, Maharashtra has been allotted 10, including Nashik, Pune, Nagpur, Navi Mumbai, apart from Mumbai.

The Sena says the state government wants to appoint a CEO for the city and he will control the day-to-day functioning of the BMC.

An editorial on Monday in Sena mouthpiece Saamna alleged that the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to be created for the scheme would be like a corporate entity. This would lead to power shifting from the hands of the BMC to the SPV, which will be controlled by the Centre. The paper said that the SPV is akin to a modern East India Company.

Interestingly, both the Sena and the MNS back a Smart City for Pune. MNS made the U-turn after its leader Raj Thackeray had a meeting with chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.

But the MNS opposes it in Mumbai. The logic? "All aspects of a Smart City are already undertaken by the BMC anyways, and there' is nothing new in it. The BJP is trying to push the scheme to score points," said Sandeep Deshpande, party leader in the BMC.

Deshpande says his party would support the project, if there's something new.

Congress corporator Devendra Amberkar, who is leader of the opposition, asked why Lower Parel is being given so much importance. How can one area be given so much preference and others left unattended, he asked.

Fadnavis wins over Oppn
In Nagpur, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Monday virtually won over the entire opposition to the scheme. He reminded the Opposition that it was they who had advocated SPVs for the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission and other schemes when they were in power. He was speaking in the Assembly.