Why BMC fails to make Mumbaikars happy

“Voters across Mumbai are unhappy with the civic body’s performance over the past five years, and say it has done its worst when it comes to providing basic amenities such as clean water and good roads. These are the findings of a survey conducted by HT, which kickstarts the paper’s coverage of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls likely to be held in early February 2012,” says Hindustan Times _._

And today, through other reports, we’ll see why citizens feel so.

First, we learn about the hawker menace:  “The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) claims it cannot start implementing its policy on street vendors until the president green-signals a required amendment in the Bombay Police Act.”

But for activists, this argument is an excuse to put off creating hawking and non-hawking zones that would ease the chaos on some of Mumbai’s roads. “The BMC refuses to create zones for street vendors unless the draft policy is made a law. This is but an excuse,” said Nayana Kathpalia, co-convenor of NGO Citispace. “It’s clear in the Supreme Court’s orders of 2003 and 2007 that till such time the policy comes into force, the SC order is valid and the BMC must implement it,” says the Times of India .

Now it comes to bribery — and petty bribery:  “Two persons were arrested by the Mumbai unit of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Tuesday in connection with separate instances of bribery. One of the arrested is a contractor with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) while the other is a hotel owner. While the BMC contractor was nabbed red-handed from the N Ward office in Ghatkopar while accepting a bribe, the hotel owner was arrested for allegedly offering a bribe to a police officer,” reports Indian Express _._

Parking woes continue: “More than six months after after municipal commissioner Subodh Kumar modified the public parking policy, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has finally passed two of the 28 proposals for new parking lots. Two of the 26 proposals that had been stayed by the civic adminstration after the modified parking policy was announced in May, were passed by the BMC this month after modifications in the height of the building but none in the number of parking slots,”  adds the Indian Express .

Then, we move to safety and construction guidelines: “The Bombay High Court on Monday asked the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) whether it would take responsibility if there is an untoward incident at the Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) refinery in Chembur, near which they have permitted the construction of residential high-rises,” the Indian Express goes on .

Moving on to bad roads, we go to Aarey: “Just days after DNA exposed the poor maintenance of the 7.6km-long Aarey Road despite the collection of toll of lakhs of rupees every day, the Aarey administration has set a deadline of November 30 for the public works department (PWD) to complete road repairs… And to convince that it means business, the Aarey administration has stopped toll collection till the works of the stretch from the VIP Guest House to the Powai check-post are complete,” reports DNA .