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By:

Quaid Najmi

4 January 2025 at 3:26:24 pm

Seventy-six mayors ruled BMC since 1931

After four years, Mumbai to salute its first citizen Kishori Pednekar Vishwanath Mahadeshwar Snehal Ambekar Sunil Prabhu Mumbai: As the date for appointing Mumbai’s First Citizen looms closer, various political parties have adopted tough posturing to foist their own person for the coveted post of Mayor – the ‘face’ of the country’s commercial capital. Ruling Mahayuti allies Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena have vowed that the city...

Seventy-six mayors ruled BMC since 1931

After four years, Mumbai to salute its first citizen Kishori Pednekar Vishwanath Mahadeshwar Snehal Ambekar Sunil Prabhu Mumbai: As the date for appointing Mumbai’s First Citizen looms closer, various political parties have adopted tough posturing to foist their own person for the coveted post of Mayor – the ‘face’ of the country’s commercial capital. Ruling Mahayuti allies Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena have vowed that the city will get a ‘Hindu Marathi’ person to head India’s richest civic body, while the Opposition Shiv Sena (UBT)-Maharashtra Navnirman Sena also harbour fond hopes of a miracle that could ensure their own person for the post. The Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) optimism stems from expectations of possible political permutations-combinations that could develop with a realignment of forces as the Supreme Court is hearing the cases involving the Shiv Sena-Nationalist Congress Party this week. Catapulted as the largest single party, the BJP hopes to install a first ever party-man as Mayor, but that may not create history. Way back in 1982-1983, a BJP leader Dr. Prabhakar Pai had served in the top post in Mumbai (then Bombay). Incidentally, Dr. Pai hailed from Udupi district of Karnataka, and his appointment came barely a couple of years after the BJP was formed (1980), capping a distinguished career as a city father, said experts. Originally a Congressman, Dr. Pai later shifted to the Bharatiya Janata Party, then back to Congress briefly, founded the Janata Seva Sangh before immersing himself in social activities. Second Administrator The 2026 Mayoral elections have evoked huge interest not only among Mumbaikars but across the country as it comes after nearly four years since the BMC was governed by an Administrator. This was only the second time in the BMC history that an Administrator was named after April 1984-May 1985. On both occasions, there were election-related issues, the first time the elections got delayed for certain reasons and the second time the polling was put off owing to Ward delimitations and OBC quotas as the matter was pending in the courts. From 1931 till 2022, Mumbai has been lorded over by 76 Mayors, men and women, hailing from various regions, backgrounds, castes and communities. They included Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Parsis, Sikhs, even a Jew, etc., truly reflecting the cosmopolitan personality of the coastal city and India’s financial powerhouse. In 1931-1932, the Mayor was a Parsi, J. B. Boman Behram, and others from his community followed like Khurshed Framji Nariman (after whom Nariman Point is named), E. A. Bandukwala, Minoo Masani, B. N. Karanjia and other bigwigs. There were Muslims like Hoosenally Rahimtoola, Sultan M. Chinoy, the legendary Yusuf Meherally, Dr. A. U. Memon and others. The Christian community got a fair share of Mayors with Joseph A. D’Souza – who was Member of Constituent Assembly representing Bombay Province for writing-approving the Constitution of India, M. U. Mascarenhas, P. A. Dias, Simon C. Fernandes, J. Leon D’Souza, et al. A Jew Elijah Moses (1937-1938) and a Sikh M. H. Bedi (1983-1984), served as Mayors, but post-1985, for the past 40 years, nobody from any minority community occupied the august post. During the silver jubilee year of the post, Sulochana M. Modi became the first woman Mayor of Mumbai (1956), and later with tweaks in the rules, many women ruled in this post – Nirmala Samant-Prabhavalkar (1994-1995), Vishakha Raut (997-1998), Dr. Shubha Raul (March 2007-Nov. 2009), Shraddha Jadhav (Dec. 2009-March 2012), Snehal Ambedkar (Sep. 2014-March 2017). The last incumbent (before the Administrator) was a government nurse, Kishori Pednekar (Nov. 2019-March 2022) - who earned the sobriquet of ‘Florence Nightingale’ of Mumbai - as she flitted around in her full white uniform at the height of the Covid-19 Pandemic, earning the admiration of the citizens. Mumbai Mayor – high-profile post The Mumbai Mayor’s post is considered a crucial step in the political ladder and many went on to become MLAs, MPs, state-central ministers, a Lok Sabha Speaker, Chief Ministers and union ministers. The formidable S. K. Patil was Mayor (1949-1952) and later served in the union cabinets of PMs Jawaharlal Nehru, Lah Bahadur Shastri and Indira Gandhi; Dahyabhai V. Patel (1954-1955) was the son of India’s first Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel; Manohar Joshi (1976-1977) became the CM of Maharashtra, later union minister and Speaker of Lok Sabha; Chhagan Bhujbal (1985-1986 – 1990-1991) became a Deputy CM.

Controlling overcrowding key on local trains

Mumbai: Controlling overcrowding is the key to avoid accidents on Mumbai suburban local trains and in an affidavit filed in the Bombay High Court last year, the Central Railway (CR) had sought the court’s help to direct the Maharashtra government to introduce staggered timing for offices as one of the measures to do so.


During hearing on a PIL regarding accidents on Mumbai’s suburban railway network last year, the then Chief Justice of Bombay High Court Upadhyaya had said, “I feel ashamed. The manner in which passengers in local trains are made to commute is unacceptable.” He had also directed the railway authorities to file affidavit outlining concrete measures to mitigate accidents and emphasized the need for a fundamental shift in the Railways’ approach towards passenger safety, stressing that the current situation demands immediate rectification.


The grim situation of accidents on suburban railways came forth in the affidavit. While the Central Railway (CR) has 1,810 suburban services that carry 40 lakh passengers, a whopping 29,321 people have lost lives in various accidents on the CR between 2005 and July 2024. According to CPRO Dr Swapnil Dhanraj Nila, “Existing passenger carrying capacity is almost fully utilised and there is hardly any scope for increasing it further (to control overcrowding) till the basic infrastructure is expanded.”


Reason of deaths

The affidavit filed by the CR said that most of the accidents were due to crossing the tracks, some were due to falling off crowded trains, while some were due to passengers being knocked down by poles adjacent to railway tracks and even gaps between platform and train footboards, among other reasons. The affidavit stated that in 2009, there were 1,782 deaths and 1,614 people were injured, which came down to 1,221 deaths and 938 injuries in 2023.


The CR had also sought the assistance of the court to direct the Maharashtra government to introduce staggered timing for offices. It had also sought the removal of some encroachments along the railway tracks, especially at Parsik Tunnel, stopping of unauthorised sand mining at Mumbra creek and a parallel road between Thane and Kalyan.


Experts say

Transport expert Sudhir Badami points at yet another issue – “making attractive mass transit system affordable.”


“The railway board has now decided that all rakes under manufacturing for Mumbai Suburban network will have automatic door closer facility. However, controlling the overcrowding is the key and that would need policy intervention and holistic approach towards resolving the transport issues of the region,” he said.


15 coach locals

MP from Kalyan Lok Sabha constituency Dr Shrikant Shinde, who visited the injured commuters at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Hospital at Kalwa said that increasing the capacity of transporting more number of passengers quickly is the need of the hour. “Locals need to be made less crowded. Fast locals need to be started between Diwa and CSMT for that. Also, starting the fifth and sixth lines up to CSMT at earliest is must. Raising the number of 15-car rakes during peak hours too can be a very effective way to tackle the issue of overcrowding in the locals,” the MP said.

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