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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.

Plan to make Maharashtra a 5 trillion dollar economy by 2047

Mumbai: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has put forth a vision to make Maharashtra a 5 trillion dollar economy by 2047. He told the Neeti Aayog meeting at Delhi on Saturday that his government in the state is busy preparing a time-bound program to bring this vision into reality.


Maharashtra government recently completed its 100-day exercise to set and achieve goals to make the state administration transparent, accessible and accountable. Various government departments achieved over 700 targets set by them during the period. In the next phase, a more elaborate 150-day program too was launched recently with a special focus on e-governance. Similarly a long term vision too is being charted out, the CM told the Neeti Aayog.


In 2047 Maharashtra will be completing 75 years of its formation and the state administration is currently busy charting a grand vision for the occasion and also the roadmap to achieve the set goals. These goals too are being set in a phased manner. The first phase is till 2029 and goals are being set for every year till 2029. The next phase will be till 2035 and the last phase will be of 12 years between 2035 and 2047 to realize the vision in action, the CM said.


Among the key factors of the grand vision are the goals to make the state’s economy worth 1 trillion dollars by 2030 and worth 5 trillion dollars by 2047. Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) shall play an important role in this as it is being developed as a growth hub which in itself will be a 1.5 trillion economy by 2047, the CM said.


Industrial development

The state government is also planning to boost the potentials of the tier-2 and tier-3 cities through industrial development. As part of these efforts Gadchiroli is being developed as the Steel City, Nagpur as the defence hub, Amravati as Textile cluster, Chhatrapati SambhajiNagar and AURIC city as EV production hubs while the port town of Dight in Raigad district is being developed into a smart industrial city, he added.


CM Fadnavis also said that the state government has formulated several policies to give a boost to services sectors. Some of the policies he mentioned in this regard are IT policy, Export Promotion Policy. Logistics Policy, Audio-Visual-Gaming_Comics (AVGC) policy, GCC (Global Competence Centre) policy etc.


Boost to MSME

While counting the state’s achievements, the CM said that the state has over 60 lakh MSME registered on the Udyam portal, which, he said, is the highest number in the country. He also said that by the means of ease of doing business and the CM’s employment generation program over 2 lakh entrepreneurs were given assistance in developing their businesses.


The state government is also developing a innovation city to give a boost to startups and constructive talent. The sectors identified for this include AI, green energy, biotech, Fintech, Agritech etc. which is expected to lead an ecosystem based on smart manufacturing. The CM also mentioned two MOUS worth Rs 5000 crore for global studios signed at the recent WAVES summit in the city.


To power this grand vision several MOUs have been recently signed to ensure 45,500 MW of additional power to the state. Majority of this power is green and the state shall have 52% of its total power supply through green sources by 2030, the CM told the conference of the heads of states.


He also sought the centre’s guidance and assistance in planning and implementation of 2027 Kumbha mela at Nashik and also in other sectors to achieve the envisioned growth targets.

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