Mumbai: The Khan Bahadur Bhabha Hospital in Kurla, a 90-year-old BMC-run facility, is under fire from local civic activists and former corporators who allege widespread corruption, mismanagement and systemic neglect.

Dilshad Ashraf Azmi, a former corporator and member of the civic Health Committee, claimed the hospital has been facing a severe shortage of medicines for the past one and a half years. “Medicines are being procured through spot quotations worth ₹25 lakh each time, but there is no regular or permanent supply,” she said. According to her, this has forced poor patients to purchase essential drugs from outside, often at the cost of skipping treatment.

Akil Khatik, a civic activist from the area, stated that the hospital, once known for quality care, has now turned into a “den of corruption.” “Patients rarely receive all the medicines prescribed by doctors. In most cases, they are forced to buy nearly half the medicines from outside pharmacies,” he said.

Although the hospital has four counters designated for free medicine distribution, only one remains open during OPD hours, leading to long queues. Khatik alleged that all counters are often shut in the evenings and at night, further burdening patients.

Operational inefficiencies are also being flagged. Toilets meant for OPD patients and their relatives are frequently kept locked, creating inconvenience, especially for women, as there are no public toilets outside the premises. Stray dogs have been spotted inside the X-ray and CT scan departments, and ongoing renovation work has left parts of the hospital littered with construction debris.

Attempts to reach the medical superintendent went unanswered. However, a senior hospital official claimed that there is no major shortage at present and that efforts are being made to streamline services.

Despite these claims, patients continue to report delayed doctor arrivals, non-functional equipment, and long wait times—raising questions over the true state of affairs at one of Mumbai’s oldest civic hospitals.

Mumbai: Eyeing the upcoming elections to the local and civic bodies, the BJP on Wednesday welcomed Annasaheb Dange back to the party fold. Once known as the senior-most BJP leader, he had quit the party 23 years ago. He was welcomed by Devendra Fadnavis at the state BJP office.

The CM recalled his days as a young party activist, who worked with Dange during the tanker-free campaign in scarcity-hit areas. Dange hails from the Dhangar community, which has a sizable presence in the districts of Solapur, Satara, and Sangli (his native) in western Maharashtra. After Mahadeo Jankar, who heads Rashtriya Samaj Paksha, parted ways with the BJP, the party appears to have been looking for prominent faces from the community.

Dange was the second-in-command among the BJP ministers when the Shiv Sena-led coalition government assumed power in 1995. He was the leader of opposition in the legislative council and later became the rural development minister. Dismayed over the alleged mistreatment by senior leaders, Dange had joined the NCP in early 2002. He hails from Islampur, Sangli, which was recently renamed as Ishwarpur by the state government.

With strong RSS links, he worked zealously for the BJP in a district known as the Congress bastion back then. Dange was closely associated with Gopinath Munde, who was deputy CM between 1995 and 1999. Almost all the important decisions of the BJP were taken by the duo and it was Dange who used to be aggressive for the party cause during the decisionmaking process of the then government.

Mumbai: Following the Supreme Court’s in-principal approval to cut 95 trees in Goregaon East’s Film City for the Goregaon-Mulund Link Road (GMLR) project, the BMC is pressing for prompt tree removal permission to initiate excavation at the tunnel boring machine (TBM) launch site. Civic officials caution that any further delay could drive up project costs and impact timelines.

About The Tunnels

The tunnels will start at Film City in Goregaon East and emerge at Amar Junction in Mulund, currently a dense slum area. Of the total length, 5.30 km will be excavated using TBMs, with the remaining 1.35 km comprising approach roads and the box tunnel. Most components of the first TBM, imported from Japan for the excavation work of twin tunnels, have already arrived and are currently stored along Film City Road, approximately 1 km from the launch shaft site. 

A massive pit—about 200 metres long, 50 metres wide, and 35 metres deep—will be excavated to lower and assemble the TBM for tunnelling work. “To begin digging this launch shaft, we need to clear the ground—hence, the felling of 95 trees is necessary,” said a senior civic official. The preliminary tunnelling phase comprises a 1.3 km box tunnel and ramp, sized 12m by 11.2m, linked to the launch shaft. Officials said that delays in tree clearance may drive up costs, as the contract includes a ‘No Limit’ clause allowing escalation for time overruns. The matter is scheduled for the next hearing in the apex court next week.

The BMC recently secured clearance from the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) to divert 19.43 hectares of forest land for the Rs. 6,551-crore twin tunnel project. The civic body aims to complete the twin tunnels by October 2028. The 12.2-km GMLR will connect the Western Express Highway at Goregaon with the Eastern Express Highway at Mulund, cutting travel time from 75 to 25 minutes. The project, being executed in four phases, has a total cost of Rs. 14,000 crore Once complete, it will provide seamless east-west connectivity across Mumbai.