100 days in power: Satam says BJP-Sena alliance has made 'fundamental changes' for good governance

The BJP-Shiv Sena alliance in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation on Thursday highlighted a series of administrative reforms, tender cancellations and infrastructure initiatives it had undertaken in its first 100 days in power at the country's richest civic body.

The ruling alliance completed the mark on Wednesday. In the civic polls held on January 15, the BJP won 89 seats while its ally Shiv Sena secured 29 seats, the two parties ending the undivided Shiv Sena's three-decade domination of the BMC.

At a press conference held at the BMC headquarters, alliance leaders claimed several measures had been taken to improve transparency and curb wasteful expenditure.

Mumbai BJP president and MLA Ameet Satam, Mumbai Mayor Ritu Tawade, BMC House Leader Ganesh Khankar, Standing Committee Chairman Prabhakar Shinde, Shiv Sena (Shinde faction) group leader Amey Ghole, BEST Committee Chairman Trushna Vishwasrao and other leaders were present on the occasion.

These leaders highlighted the cancellation of multiple tenders, including those related to the Byculla zoo expansion, footpath railings and road-marking works and asserted the move resulted in savings of more than Rs 1,000 crore for the civic body.

The ruling alliance also cited procurement of school and hospital supplies through Government e-Marketplace (GeM) portal, introduction of an online bed availability system in municipal hospitals, launch of ''Mumbai Clean League'', progress in road concretisation works and measures to tackle waterlogging in coordination with IIT Bombay.

The alliance further highlighted initiatives such as QR code-based hawker registration system, free HPV vaccination drive for girls, promotion of Marathi language, AI and robotics laboratories in civic schools and reforms proposed under 'Dattak Vasti Scheme' for slum areas.

''The alliance has carried out measurable, tangible and quantifiable work in the BMC within the first 100 days. Fundamental changes have been made in the first 100 days to provide a corruption-free administration and bring good governance to the BMC. The civic body would undergo a complete facelift within the next one to two years,'' Satam said.

Asked on the failure to introduce new buses in Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) fleet despite commuter hardships, he said the alliance is working to make the civic-run transport undertaking sustainable.

''Prima facie, we have observed the loss-making undertaking is not generating expected revenue from fares and is also not earning sufficient income from advertisements and internal feeder routes, especially after launch of new metro rail routes. Hence, our focus will be on making BEST sustainable,'' Satam said.

In the civic polls held on January 15, the Shiv Sena (UBT) won 65 seats and the MNS won six. The Congress, which fought in alliance with the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi, won 24 seats, while the AIMIM secured eight seats, the NCP won three, the Samajwadi Party got two and the NCP (SP) won one seat.

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