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By:

Abhijit Mulye

21 August 2024 at 11:29:11 am

Victory in the streets, vacuum in the office

State BJP without official body since over 8 months Mumbai: Despite a crushing wave of victories across Maharashtra’s urban and rural landscape, the state unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) finds itself in a peculiar state of organizational paralysis. More than eight months after Ravindra Chavan officially took the reins as State President from Chandrashekhar Bawankule in July 2025, the party has failed to constitute its state executive body, exposing deep-seated internal friction and a...

Victory in the streets, vacuum in the office

State BJP without official body since over 8 months Mumbai: Despite a crushing wave of victories across Maharashtra’s urban and rural landscape, the state unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) finds itself in a peculiar state of organizational paralysis. More than eight months after Ravindra Chavan officially took the reins as State President from Chandrashekhar Bawankule in July 2025, the party has failed to constitute its state executive body, exposing deep-seated internal friction and a deadlock with the central leadership in Delhi. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis visited Delhi twice this week. On Friday he also called on the newly elected national party president Nitin Nabin. Though it is being speculated that the meeting might lead to political realignment in the state, real question is whether it will bring to the tracks the derailed organizational appointments of the state party unit. The primary catalyst for this administrative limbo is said to be a strict directive from the BJP high command. In a bid to ensure that elected representatives remain laser-focused on their constituencies ahead of the 2029 cycle, the party leadership has mandated that no sitting MLA should be appointed as an organizational office bearer. While logically sound, this "one person, one post" enforcement has drained the pool of seasoned leaders available for the state body. State President Ravindra Chavan, himself an MLA from Dombivli, is reportedly struggling to balance the requirement for experienced "organizational engines" with the demand for fresh, non-legislative faces. The friction has reportedly peaked over the appointment of a specific former minister who lost his seat during the 2024 Lok Sabha debacle. Sources indicate this leader, who feels sidelined after being denied a cabinet berth in the Devendra Fadnavis-led government, is lobbying aggressively for the powerful post of State General Secretary. However, the Delhi high command remains unimpressed. Citing his recent electoral loss and a "cloud of controversy" surrounding his previous tenure, the central leadership has twice rejected the list of office bearers submitted by the state unit. This tug-of-war has effectively stalled the entire process, as the state unit is hesitant to move forward without accommodating senior loyalists. The irony of the situation is not lost on political observers. The organizational delay comes at a time when the BJP’s "election machine" is performing at its peak. While demonstrating its civic dominance, in the January 2026 municipal elections, the BJP swept 1,425 out of 2,869 seats across 29 corporations, including a historic victory in the BMC. It also demonstrated its rural surge in the recently concluded Zilla Parishad polls, where the party emerged as the single largest entity, winning 225 of 731 seats. "The party is winning on the strength of the 'Fadnavis-Chavan' duo and the Mahayuti's momentum, but the skeletal structure of the organization is missing. We have generals and soldiers, but no mid-level commanders," noted a senior party strategist on the condition of anonymity. When questioned about the delay, Ravindra Chavan’s office has maintained a disciplined silence. Staffers decline to provide a timeline, merely stating that "consultations are ongoing." This lack of a formal state body means that key wings of the party—including the Youth, Women, and Kisan Morchas—are operating without a full set of sanctioned leaders. While the BJP continues to win elections through centralized command, the simmering discontent among senior leaders who feel "abandoned" by the high command's new rules could pose a challenge to long-term internal harmony.

‘Anatomy’ of Landfills Open Dumping Ground

Garbage collected from various locations in the city is finally transported to it’s final and ultimate destination that is, landfill. There are three types of landfills namely Open Dump, Controlled Dump and Sanitary or Secured Landfill. As mentioned in the earlier articles, an open dump is any open space belonging to and lying within the jurisdiction of urban local body. It is basically an open space or plot reserved for dumping of garbage. It is usually poorly sited without any predetermined capacity to hold garbage. It does not require any special site preparation or arrangement as such. It is open and accessible to all, including rag pickers. There is no provision of any record keeping as such. There is no mechanism for sorting or for segregation of waste that is brought here. When you visit such open dump and try to ‘look’ inside it, you would find the following different types of so-called ‘waste’ items.


Plastic Waste: Includes articles right from plastic carry bags to toys, trays, vessels, cups and other utensils, straws, multilayered plastic pouches, sachets so on and so forth. Along with these, you would see broken plastic furniture, bottles, and similar other articles. You can also see waste rubber tires and tubes which have become worn out and hence are discarded in the garbage.


Cardboards, Tetra pack waste: Right from the toothpaste packaging to many different types of cardboard packaging, right from small tetra packs containing Fruti, coffee and similar types of beverages to larger tetra pack containers are usually thrown in the dustbins after their contents are consumed. Apart from this, waste newspapers, tissue papers and many different types of paper are also discarded These eventually end up in the dumping grounds.


Biodegradable Waste: This includes waste generated in the kitchens. Fruit peels, scraps and shreds of different types of vegetables, left over food and similar items form this category of waste. The final destination for this waste is, of course, the dumping ground. Some other types of biodegradable waste include carcasses of the dead animals like rats and dogs or cats etc.


Electrical and electronic waste: Dead, worn out and end-of the life equipment like bulbs, tube lights, mobile phones, batteries and many other similar appliances are discarded and end up in the dumping ground.

Debris: This includes dirt, pieces of bricks and stones, cement, sand boulders etc. which are generated during building demolition and construction, excavation for construction activities like roads, bridges, flyovers and so on. All such waste is also brought to the dumping ground.


These are some major types of waste material that piles up at the dumping ground. Now, while reading about these different types of waste getting piled up at the dumping ground, you can easily understand what a mess we are creating by dumping all this waste together at one place!


Such ‘heterogenous’ nature of waste is responsible for several environmental hazards and pose grave danger to the human health. More about these hazards in the next article. Till then, have a good, ‘waste free’ weekend!


(The author is an environment specialist. Views personal.)

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