A fresh dispute over BMC fund allocation has brought allegations of political discrimination back into the civic body’s standing committee, after chairperson Prabhakar Shinde claimed that former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray had directed officials not to release funds to BJP corporators during the previous state government.
Shinde made the claim during a discussion on the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s fixed deposits in various banks and the requirement to submit reports on them to the standing committee every three months. The allegation was raised amid a broader debate over how the civic administration’s financial decisions are monitored and how elected representatives access funds for local development work.
The exchange began after Shiv Sena (UBT) corporator Lakshmi Bhatia alleged that discrimination in the allocation of corporators’ funds amounted to misleading the public. BJP corporator and standing committee member Sheetal Gambhir responded by asking Bhatia to sit with BJP members, triggering a heated verbal exchange between BJP and Shiv Sena (UBT) corporators.
During the confrontation, Shinde referred to fund allocation under the erstwhile Thackeray government. He claimed that the then chief minister had instructed officials not to allocate funds to BJP corporators and said political differences had restricted development work undertaken by elected representatives of opposition parties. The report does not include a response from Uddhav Thackeray or his representatives to the allegation.
The dispute highlights the political importance of civic funds in Mumbai’s municipal system. Corporators use such allocations to support local development works, and disagreements over access to funds can affect how neighbourhood-level projects are proposed and implemented. The claim also raises questions about the administrative safeguards governing allocations when elected representatives belong to rival political groups.
Shiv Sena corporator Yamini Jadhav separately criticised the Thackeray faction, saying the present situation would not have arisen if the BMC elections had been held in 2022 as scheduled, when Thackeray was chief minister. She said the leadership in power at the time should take political responsibility for the circumstances that followed the expiry of the elected representatives’ term without fresh elections.
The standing committee also discussed green bonds, the public-private partnership model and the BMC’s financial planning. House leader Ganesh Khankar sought a detailed presentation on the expected benefits of green bonds for Mumbai, the proposed use of potential grants from the Union government and the effect of the civic body’s financial decisions on the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport undertaking.
The committee’s demand for further financial details places the fund-allocation dispute alongside wider questions about transparency, municipal borrowing and the relationship between BMC finances and public services. The next presentation on green bonds and related funding issues is expected to provide the committee with more information on the civic body’s proposed financial strategy.
