New Delhi: Elections for the India’s richest civic body, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), are currently underway. The BMC is the civic body that governs the megapolis of Mumbai. Its budget last year was Rs 37,000 crore, making it the richest urban local body in the country. Although political parties vie to get their candidates elected as corporators, who really controls it?
Here is a News18 primer on the BMC.
Who gets elected to the BMC?
The BMC has an elected legislature with corporators. But they only have legislative powers and not executive powers. This means that the party which has the most corporators is not actually in-charge of the BMC’s actions, even though they elect the mayor.
So who really runs the BMC?
This distinction would go to the BMC Commissioner, an IAS officer, appointed by the Chief Minister. The executive is responsible for the implementation of all schemes, allotment of tenders, and creating quality checks for the same. He is also responsible for the civic functions like maintaining roads and collecting trash.
So what does the mayor do?
The mayor has the power to spend up to Rs 1 crore a year on civic projects. In accordance with the nominal role, the mayor attends to foreign dignitaries and heads of states visiting the city.
What does the elected party and the corporators do?
The elected councilors make the rules that have to be followed by the officers of the BMC.
- The budget that is created by the executive must be approved by them to be passed.
- They can raise issues in the house to which administrative authorities will be forced to respond.
- They can petition the state government to remove officers who are mired in corruption.
- There are other methods of political pressure at their disposal that they can use as well.
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