Mumbai, Jul 21 (PTI) In a first, Mangal Prabhat Lodha, guardian minister for Mumbai’s suburbs, has set up an office in the headquarters of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), raising the hackles of opposition Nationalist Congress Party and Shiv Sena (UBT).
Lodha’s action set a wrong precedent and was an “encroachment” of the civic body’s rights, the two parties said.
Raising the issue in the Maharashtra assembly, NCP’s Jayant Patil said he had been Mumbai’s guardian minister in the past, but opening an office in the BMC was “encroaching on the civic body’s rights.” “There is no elected representative in the BMC (at the moment) and the government has to keep distance from local self-government bodies to ensure their independence,” he added.
Elections to the BMC are due for more than one year.
“The BMC commissioner can be summoned to a minister’s office, but (a minister) setting up office in BMC is a wrong precedent,” the senior NCP leader said.
While Lodha holds the Skill Development and Entrepreneurship portfolio in the state government, he is also the guardian minister for Mumbai suburbs. Every district in Maharashtra has its own guardian minister.
A BMC official said that Lodha’s office, with his nameplate on the door, is located on the first floor of the century-old heritage building in south Mumbai.
Speaking outside the assembly, Lodha defended himself, and took a veiled swipe at Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray who had faced criticism for mostly working from home when he was chief minister during the coronavirus pandemic.
“Our government goes to the people and works….earlier guardian ministers should also have had cabins in the BMC. We do not operate out of a bungalow or work through social media. This is why we will sit in the BMC office and listen to people’s problems and find solutions,” he said.
Elsewhere, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray said the cabins of the market committee and education committee chairpersons in the BMC have been given to guardian ministers.
“What was the reason? Do they want to build towers there?” Thackeray said, in an apparent jibe at Lodha whose family is in the construction business.
If guardian ministers are given cabins in the BMC, mayors should have offices in Mantralaya (state secretariat) and Mumbai MLAs must be provided offices in the civic headquarters, he said, adding that Lodha had set a wrong precedent.
“If this does not stop in 24 hours, people will vent their anger and I don’t know who should be held responsible then,” Thackeray said.
Duties of ministers and local self-government bodies are different and there is no mayor or public representatives in the BMC at present, he said.
The real motive behind setting up offices in the BMC was “to commit scams,” Thackeray alleged. PTI PR BNM KRK
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