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By:

Abhijit Mulye

21 August 2024 at 11:29:11 am

Shinde dilutes demand

Likely to be content with Deputy Mayor’s post in Mumbai Mumbai: In a decisive shift that redraws the power dynamics of Maharashtra’s urban politics, the standoff over the prestigious Mumbai Mayor’s post has ended with a strategic compromise. Following days of resort politics and intense backroom negotiations, the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena has reportedly diluted its demand for the top job in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), settling instead for the Deputy Mayor’s post. This...

Shinde dilutes demand

Likely to be content with Deputy Mayor’s post in Mumbai Mumbai: In a decisive shift that redraws the power dynamics of Maharashtra’s urban politics, the standoff over the prestigious Mumbai Mayor’s post has ended with a strategic compromise. Following days of resort politics and intense backroom negotiations, the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena has reportedly diluted its demand for the top job in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), settling instead for the Deputy Mayor’s post. This development, confirmed by high-ranking party insiders, follows the realization that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) effectively ceded its claims on the Kalyan-Dombivali Municipal Corporation (KDMC) to protect the alliance, facilitating a “Mumbai for BJP, Kalyan for Shinde” power-sharing formula. The compromise marks a complete role reversal between the BJP and the Shiv Sena. Both the political parties were in alliance with each other for over 25 years before 2017 civic polls. Back then the BJP used to get the post of Deputy Mayor while the Shiv Sena always enjoyed the mayor’s position. In 2017 a surging BJP (82 seats) had paused its aggression to support the undivided Shiv Sena (84 seats), preferring to be out of power in the Corporation to keep the saffron alliance intact. Today, the numbers dictate a different reality. In the recently concluded elections BJP emerged as the single largest party in Mumbai with 89 seats, while the Shinde faction secured 29. Although the Shinde faction acted as the “kingmaker”—pushing the alliance past the majority mark of 114—the sheer numerical gap made their claim to the mayor’s post untenable in the long run. KDMC Factor The catalyst for this truce lies 40 kilometers north of Mumbai in Kalyan-Dombivali, a region considered the impregnable fortress of Eknath Shinde and his son, MP Shrikant Shinde. While the BJP performed exceptionally well in KDMC, winning 50 seats compared to the Shinde faction’s 53, the lotter for the reservation of mayor’s post in KDMC turned the tables decisively in favor of Shiv Sena there. In the lottery, the KDMC mayor’ post went to be reserved for the Scheduled Tribe candidate. The BJP doesn’t have any such candidate among elected corporatros in KDMC. This cleared the way for Shiv Sena. Also, the Shiv Sena tied hands with the MNS in the corporation effectively weakening the Shiv Sena (UBT)’s alliance with them. Party insiders suggest that once it became clear the BJP would not pursue the KDMC Mayor’s chair—effectively acknowledging it as Shinde’s fiefdom—he agreed to scale down his demands in the capital. “We have practically no hope of installing a BJP Mayor in Kalyan-Dombivali without shattering the alliance locally,” a Mumbai BJP secretary admitted and added, “Letting the KDMC become Shinde’s home turf is the price for securing the Mumbai Mayor’s bungalow for a BJP corporator for the first time in history.” The formal elections for the Mayoral posts are scheduled for later this month. While the opposition Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA)—led by the Shiv Sena (UBT)—has vowed to field candidates, the arithmetic heavily favors the ruling alliance. For Eknath Shinde, accepting the Deputy Mayor’s post in Mumbai is a tactical retreat. It allows him to consolidate his power in the MMR belt (Thane and Kalyan) while remaining a partner in Mumbai’s governance. For the BJP, this is a crowning moment; after playing second fiddle in the BMC for decades, they are poised to finally install their own “First Citizen” of Mumbai.

Journey of Garbage- From Cradle to Grave

Journey of Garbage

Hi friends! In my last article, I wrote about NIMBY syndrome. Due to this attitude of common people, it has become very difficult for the local civic authorities to earmark and use suitable open space for dumping of the garbage. Now, before we learn more about the landfills or garbage dumping grounds, let us first know the system of collection and transportation of garbage from different locations all the way to the dumping ground.


Vehicles such as rickshaws, bullock carts and tricycles are used manually for this purpose. These vehicles are comparatively low cost and easy to operate and maintain. These vehicles are appropriate for areas with dense population having narrow streets with comparatively less quantity of waste generation.


Compacter Trucks

These vehicles are provided with a compaction system to hydraulically compact the waste. Such vehicles are very useful in reduction of volume of garbage due to compaction system. Compactor trucks are not suitable for narrow roads. These trucks are provided with lifting mechanism to discharge the waste from stationary containers located at the source of generation. The compacted garbage is generally offloaded from the rear or from the front side of the vehicle at the waste dumping site. The compactor trucks can carry waste directly from the source of generation to the dumping ground or to the waste processing site. The major advantages of compactor trucks include large size, higher capacity, covered and safe for waste handlers due to minimum exposure. The compactors trucks cannot be used for waste that has gritty, dusty and abrasive components.


Non compactor trucks are known to be relatively more efficient and affordable. These vehicles are generally utilized in small cities. These are used for dense waste that has minimum potential for compaction. These compactor trucks have capacity of in the range of 10-12 m3 and are generally used to cover small distances of less than 15 km. The non-compactor trucks are usually covered to avoid flying of waste material and entry of rain water into the waste. These trucks are preferred when labour cost is high. Similar to muscle power vehicles non compactor trucks are also operated by single person.


The specialized collection vehicles such as closed body recycling trucks, recycling trailers, modified flatbed trucks, flatbed trucks, open bin recycling trucks and compartmentalize trucks are mainly used for collection of wastes segregated at the source. In developed countries large wastes storage containers are located outdoors or basement for collection of recyclables. In many cities and towns in India, they use Ghanta Gadi as a transport vehicle. The recyclables are further transported to the processing site through specialized collection vehicles.


Modified flatbed trucks

The standard flatbed truck is used for the curbside collection. In these types of vehicles, there is hydraulic dumping box fitted on the top of the truck bed. The dumping box has three or four compartments.


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

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