MUMBAI: The BJP has for the first time secured chairmanship of the powerful civic standing committee in the BMC, with its Mulund corporator Prabhakar Shinde elected unopposed at a special meeting held on Friday. The opposition did not field any candidate for the post.The standing committee is the BMC’s most influential statutory body, responsible for scrutinising and approving all major financial proposals of the civic administration, including expenditure on infrastructure, contracts and civic works. Traditionally, the chairmanship goes to the party with the highest number of corporators in the House. The BJP and Shiv Sena, who fought in an alliance, together won 118 seats, of which BJP alone won 89.Earlier in the day, BJP corporator Rajeshree Shirwadkar was appointed chairperson of the civic education committee. Speaking after her appointment, Shirwadkar said she has ordered a comprehensive review of all ongoing and completed education-related works, including improvement and upgradation projects in civic schools. “I am getting to work immediately and have already called for a review meeting on Monday,” she said.As chairperson of the education committee, Shirwadkar will be an ex-officio member of the standing committee, further strengthening the BJP’s presence in key decision-making bodies.Meanwhile, the first day of committee appointments also saw the opposition staking its claims. Shiv Sena (UBT)’s corporator and leader of the opposition Kishori Pednekar demanded that the civic administration present a white paper detailing civic works carried out over the past four years, a period when the BMC functioned without elected corporators.“We want complete clarity on where funds were allocated, to whom contracts were awarded, and what kind of works were undertaken,” Pednekar said. She also demanded that corporators, who receive an honorarium, be officially described as “trustees” rather than “vendors” in administrative records, asserting elected representatives are accountable to citizens, not contractors.
