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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.

The NIMBY Syndrome

Updated: Oct 22, 2024


NIMBY

In a city in India, the local civic administration was searching for a suitable open space within their jurisdiction for ‘developing’ a new dump yard for the city garbage as the existing one was filled to its capacity. They undertook a survey and shortlisted a couple of sites which were reserved for the same purpose many years ago as per their development plan. So, that land was the official property of the urban local body. They started preparing the land to receive tons and tons of garbage every day from the city.


However, the city administration did not consider the fact that there were hundreds of many new, multistoried residential complexes and housing facilities in the vicinity of this land they had selected for the dump yard. These were constructed over the past few years and had spread like mushrooms in a forest. The residents living there got an inkling of the plan of local civic body to use the adjacent land for dumping of the garbage.


Hundreds and thousands of residents came together to raise their voice against this proposed dump yard. Why were they opposing? Simple. Those wise men, women and children living there knew that if such dump yard comes up in the vicinity, it will cause unprecedented damage not only to the environment but also to their own health, their life will be like living in hell, they might lose the existing natural beauty, their surroundings will be severely polluted soon, it will create unbearable stench etc etc.


Like other ‘normal humans’, they were ‘victims’ of the NIMBY Syndrome. No..no.. it is not any genetic disorder or any medical condition. It is a mind set we all have developed over the period. It is Not In My Back Yard mentality. ‘I will keep my house clean and hygienic thereby generate waste in the process then I will keep it out of my house so it goes out of my house, out of sight and out of mind…but if you are trying to get it back in my backyard or in the vicinity of my residential area, I will strongly oppose it’ ! because of this mentality of the citizens, it has become very difficult for civic bodies to manage the huge volumes of waste that keep on accumulating.


But then why do the local civic bodies insist on using open dumping as the most common method of waste disposal when there is so much resistance from the communities? To understand this, let us learn more about this method of waste disposal. Open dumping simply refers to disposal of municipal solid waste on open land.


It does not have any specific infrastructure or facility to take care of the hazardous elements in the waste that keeps on piling up for days, months and years. Within a couple of years, you will find that what was a plain, flat land surface earlier has turned into a huge, tall, towering ‘mountain’ of garbage. Through the next articles, we will study the ‘anatomy’ of such open dumping ground. Till then, enjoy the weekend!


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

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