Dissolve Mumbai civic body, suspend its chief: Congress

Mumbai, June 29 (IANS) Five days after a multi-storeyed building was at risk following a landslide, the Mumbai Congress on Friday demanded the dissolution of the Shiv Sena-ruled BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and suspension of the Municipal Commissioner, alleging corruption.

The party has also demanded a thorough investigation by a sitting judge into the rampant corruption in the civic body within a time frame of six months.

In a letter to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Mumbai Congress President Sanjay Nirupam said "the nexus between the building proposals department, headed by Municipal Commissioner Ajoy Mehta, and the builders paves the way to illegal constructions in the city".

"The richest municipal corporation of Asia (budget this year, over Rs 25,140 crore) has become hollow due to rising corruption. The landslide at Lloyds Estate in Wadala has exposed the illegal excavation being carried out by Dosty Realty at the site," Nirupam informed Fadnavis.

Pointing out how the nearly 3,000-odd residents of the affected buildings in Lloyds Estate are scared for their lives, he said the BMC and the ruling party (Shiv Sena) are trying to shield the culprits.

"This isn't the only case of negligence by the BMC. Repeated fire incidents across the city have exposed the violation of fire norms by the BMC. Mumbai comes to a standstill within few hours of rains only because of lack of proper measures taken by the BMC. Crores spent on civic works literally go down the drain. They are playing with the lives of citizens," Nirupam said.

Taking a dig at the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party government, he said recently Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced Mumbai as the cleanest capital city in India which is "yet another joke" by the government on the people of Mumbai.

"How can the Prime Minister declare Mumbai as the cleanest city if it generates 9,000 metric tonnes of garbage every day out of which only 7,000 metric tonnes is disposed?

"The city is stuck with 2,000 tonnes of garbage every day, heaps are strewn all over the city... The condition of the city is completely opposite to being the cleanest in the country," Nirupam said.

He called for the urgent need to appoint an administrator for the BMC to cleanse the rot in the system to prevent any fatal accidents in the city.

"As Nodal Minister in-charge of Mumbai you must initiate action in the matter rather than leave the citizens to die," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Social News XYZ staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)