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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.

Monsoon Malaise

Updated: Oct 21, 2024

Few things are as predictable as Mumbai’s monsoon: torrential rains, clogged roads, submerged railway tracks, harried commuters. Year after year, Mumbai, Pune and other parts in Maharashtra face a familiar deluge of water - and a deluge of excuses. As the India Meteorological Department (IMD) issues warnings, the state’s infrastructure wilts under pressure, unable to cope with the annual onslaught. The problem is not the accuracy or inaccuracy of these forecasts (often the butt of jokes), but the chronic inadequacy of the state’s infrastructure.

Despite Maharashtra being one of India’s wealthiest states, its urban planning and preparedness for heavy rains remain woefully inadequate. Mumbai, the financial capital, is an emblem of this paradox. The city’s drainage system, much of it built during the British era, is designed to handle 25mm of rain per hour. This might have sufficed in 1860, but it is pitifully inadequate for the reality of the 2020s, where storms can dump more than 100mm of rain in just a few hours.

In Pune, rapid urbanization has outstripped its drainage systems, causing flash floods during the monsoon. Once known for its pleasant weather, the city now faces severe waterlogging with any heavy rain, worsened by roads that quickly morph into lunar craters at the first instance of heavy showers.

A critical flaw in Maharashtra’s monsoon preparedness lies not just in infrastructure but in communication. While the state government leans heavily on IMD forecasts, it rarely takes proactive steps to directly inform the public about impending torrential rains. The reliance on the IMD’s bulletins alone - often buried in technical jargon - leaves citizens unaware of real-time conditions and disruptions.

This communication gap has dire consequences. Commuters in Mumbai, dependent on the city’s overstretched public transport system, often find themselves stranded as trains are cancelled, buses are rerouted, and streets turn into rivers.

The city’s famed suburban rail network grinds to a halt, leaving thousands scrambling for alternative routes with little advance notice.Instead of waiting for IMD alerts, the Maharashtra administration could adopt a more dynamic, real-time communication system using apps, SMS alerts, and social media to keep commuters informed of road closures, train delays, and areas to avoid.

A centralized, citizen-centric system, akin to those used in other flood-prone cities globally, could alleviate much of the chaos that grips Mumbai during the monsoon, helping people adjust their plans before the city is submerged.

Without a strategic overhaul of its urban infrastructure, the state will remain trapped in a vicious cycle of monsoon mismanagement. Maharashtra cannot control the skies, but it can control how prepared it is to face the rains that fall from them.

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