A serious case has come to light regarding the recommendations of political leaders for transfers of officers and employees of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation. The available list includes the names of 225 officers and employees, along with the names of ministers, MLAs, MPs, deputy mayors and corporators. The detailed list was provided to Right to Information (RTI) activist Anil Gilgali by the city engineer’s office.

A preliminary analysis of the political recommendations related to these 225 officers and employees shows that the names of some political figures keep coming up again and again. Eknath Shinde’s name has come up the most, 10 times. He is followed by Ramdas Athawale (recommended 9 times), while Girish Mahajan and Kalidas Kolambkar are mentioned 7 times. Similarly, the names of Mangesh Kadalkar, Anna Bansode, and Takaram Ket appear 6 times. Marji Patel and Dilip Lande are mentioned five times each. Meanwhile, the names of Narahari Zerowal, Sumit Wankhede, Rahul Shivale, Prakash Sarvo, Indraniil Naik, Santosh Bangar, Ram Kadam, Kisan Kathor, and Bachu Kadu appear 4 times each. Furthermore, the names of Chandrashekhar Bawankole, Hasan Musharraf, Bharat Sheth Gogawale, Uday Samant, Priyanka Phoka, Ravindra Waikar, Prasad Lad, Sunil Prabhu, Mahesh Sawant, and Praveen Drakar are mentioned 3 times each. Finally, Pratap Rao Jadhav, Pankaja Munde, Mangal Prabhat The names of Lodha, Raosaheb Danve, Sanjay Gadi, Rahul Narvekar, Jay Kumar Gaur, and Sana Malik have appeared twice each. Meanwhile, the names of Ravinder Chavan, Chandrakant Patil, and Sanjay Bansode have appeared once each.

Commenting on the list, Right to Information (RTI) activist Anil Gilgali said, “Transfers within the municipal corporation are expected to be made on the basis of administrative necessity, seniority, and transparent criteria. However, a list has surfaced in which the names of 225 officers and employees have been linked to the names of ministers, MLAs, MPs, and public representatives.” Gilgali said the municipal commissioner is expected to take disciplinary action against officials who exert political pressure in the matter as per the existing rules. The list includes officers and employees holding the posts of Assistant Engineer (AE), Sub Engineer (SE), Executive Engineer (EE), and Junior Engineer (JE). The names and related policy recommendations are as follows: They are: Ravinder Ghatge (Santosh Bangar); Sunil Shethe (Prakash Sarvo, Old Phookey); Deepak Nagasuge (Marji Patel); Gajendra Kakar (Mahendra Dalvi); Ravinder Drikkar (Anna Bansude, Prakash Sarvo); Anjali Dhore (Kishor Appa Patil); Sachin Mendhe (Varsha Gaikwad); Prashant Jagtap (Andarnel Naik, Hasan Musharraf); Nilesh Prab (Manisha Chaudhary, Girish Mahajan); Hemant Pant (Parveen Drikkar); Padmakar Chavan (Makrand Patil); Vishal Patil (Anna Bansude); Prakash Shingare (Meghna Bordekar); Sandeep Ghogre (Dr. Pankaj Bhuveer); Narayan Menghare (Santosh Bangar); Sagar Gaikwad (Sanjay Dina Patil); Rajendra Rathod (Shivendraraje Bhosle); Harish Chavan (Anna Bansude); Chetan Patil (Ram Kadam); Venkatesh Ole (Bachu Kiddo); Shubham Chavan (Marji Patel); Neha Nitin Sankhe (Uday Samant); Prasad Dhumle (Ravendra Waikar); Sunil Yamgar (Marji Patel); Prasad Patwardhan (Dhananjay Gadgal); Harshal Pimple (Kishan Kathore); Purnima Bhavir (Kali Das Kolambkar); Santosh Bhadwekar (Praveen Dariker); Vidyasagar Bhamawale (Prasad Lad); Nitin Chaudhary (Rahul Shivale); Jayant Borshe (Prakash Solanke); Sameer Samb (Sanjay Ghadi); Sachin Hanmadhar (Marji Patel); Siddhi Vinayak Khadapkar (Dilip Lande); Yogesh Parthi (Tikram Kate); Rupesh Bhandge (Sanjay Kelkar); Ramesh Sonawane (Ram Kadam); Kishore Khetri (Babasaheb Patel); Mayur Patil (Bharat Sheth Gogawale); Renuka Patil (Indarnel Naik); Vijay Shyamothy (Dilip Lande); Dinesh Nanche (Ramdas Athawale); Chetan Patil (Sanjay Dina Patil); Anoop Thakur (including Wankhede); Mahesh Nandkar (Radha Krishna Vikhe Patil); Sandeep Desai (Sanjay Sarasat); Abhay Sankhe (Chandrasekhar Bawankole); Sachin Dudh Bhate (India Sheth Gogawale); Ravindra Gawade (Kalidas Kolumbakar); Usman Sadiq (Sana Malik); Deepak Chogole (Dilip Lande); Siddharth Aggarwal (Harun Shaikh, Ranjana Patil); Sachin Dur (Suresh Koparkar); Sandeep Salunkhe (Kalidas Kolumbakar); Keshu Owe (Ramdas Athawale); Rahul Nagul (Captain Tamil Selvan); Vikas Sonone (Uday Samant); Vicky Salunkhe (Sanjay Rathore); Sainath Galwad (Dr. Bhagwat Karad, Girish Mahajan, Abu Azmi); Jameer Pathan (Sunil Prabhu); Roshan Jhamse (Eknath Shinde); Akshay Dudhan (Eknath Shinde); Prashant Pathare (Eknath Shinde); Angraj Ganpat (Eknath Shinde); Anand Jadhav (Eknath Shinde); Amit Gahane (Eknath Shinde); Praveen Turkikar (Eknath Shinde); Vivek Patil (Madhuritai Misal); Ravi Gupta (Chandrasekhar Bawankule); Yogesh Kokani (Prakash Sarva); Praveen Maluk (Prakash Sarvo); Madhav Bachwad (Ashok Chavan); Sheetal Kale (Sana Malik); Omkar Mane (Dr. Bhagwat Karad); Shalka Khade (Sanjay Bansode); Bhushan Gawli (Ramdas Athawale); Shahbaz Pirzadeh (Hasan Musharraf); Sandesh Wankhede (Kalidas Kolumbakar); Santosh Ghawre (Eknath Shinde); Sharita Thakur (Kishan Kathoor); Sagar Thet (Ravendra Vaikar); Khabbil Devrokhkar (Ramdas Athawale); Kartik Gandhi (Ram Pandagale, Indranil Naik, Meghna Bordekar); Sachin Sonawane (Manoj Jamsutkar, Manisha Chaudhary); Ramdas Kavdekar (Prasad Lad, Ramrao Vidkote); Walsangikar Abdul Mati.

Mumbai: As part of the ‘Pedestrian First’ campaign launched by the Mumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), various departments are carrying out a drive to remove encroachments to ensure safe, convenient and obstacle-free routes for pedestrians. In the first phase of this campaign, 134 out of 200 marked footpaths have been cleared of encroachments, effectively freeing a total area of ​​197 km. Moreover, action was taken against 94 unauthorised stalls on footpaths near Bhandup Railway Station (West) in the last two days. Under the guidance of Municipal Commissioner Ashwini Bhide, as per the directions of the High Court, the BMC is implementing the ‘Pedestrian First’ campaign to immediately remove unauthorised hawkers and encroachments from footpaths across Mumbai. Commissioner Bhide has directed the Additional Municipal Commissioners, Deputy Commissioners and Assistant Commissioners to ensure strict implementation of this campaign. She is also personally reviewing the progress made in each administrative ward and the actions taken by various departments within these wards. The municipal administration has appealed to the business community and citizens of Mumbai to cooperate in this campaign. The ‘Pedestrian First’ (Padachari Pratham) campaign has been launched in Mumbai to make footpaths accessible to pedestrians. Accordingly, emphasis has been placed on removing obstructions from footpaths in areas with heavy pedestrian traffic such as the areas around Bhandup railway station. In the first phase, encroachments are being removed from 14 footpaths in Bhandup area. The work of removing encroachments from about 11 of these footpaths has already started. The operation was conducted under the guidance of Additional Municipal Commissioner (Eastern Suburbs) Dr. Avinash Dhakane, Deputy Commissioner (Zone 6) Mr. Santosh Kumar Dhonde and Assistant Commissioner (S-Ward) Samrin Syed.

The operation has cleared the way for pedestrians to and from Bhandup Railway Station. This will help in reducing traffic and pedestrian congestion during peak hours. Moreover, citizens will now have access to an obstacle-free footpath leading from Bhandup Railway Station area towards Lal Bahadur Shastri Marg. The operation involved 5 JCBs, 10 dumpers, over 50 officers and staff members, 100 labourers, and over 70 police personnel. Along with the ‘Pedestrian First’ campaign, ‘S’ ward is also making special efforts to eliminate ‘garbage vulnerable spots’ (GVPs) which are prone to accumulation of large quantities of garbage.

Appeal to business owners and citizens
The Mumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) administration appeals to citizens to remember that footpaths are designed for the safe and easy movement of pedestrians. Do not create obstructions by placing unauthorized shops, stalls, structures or any other material on the footpaths. The corporation is continuously taking action to keep the footpaths clean under the ‘Pedestrian First’ campaign, and strict action will be taken against violators as per the rules. The campaign was carried out at 1,459 locations in the municipal corporation areas. In the first phase of this campaign, encroachments will be removed from 200 footpaths. Out of these, work has been completed on 134. Nearly 197 km of footpaths have been cleared of obstructions, with enforcement actions being carried out at 1,459 locations. The campaign is being carried out in all 26 administrative wards of the Municipal Corporation.

After the mischief and violence of the miscreants returning from the Eid Milad-un-Nabi (peace be upon him) procession in Mumbai’s Lalbagh Parel, tension spread after the religious flag and flag were desecrated in the VP Road Arab Gali area, but the police have taken the person who insulted the flag into custody and started questioning him. Now the situation is peaceful, but the tension persists. The public should exercise patience and restraint and not pay attention to the rumors. Police arrangements have been increased. An incident of alleged desecration of a religious and Islamic flag belonging to a specific sect has come to light in the VP Road area of ​​South Mumbai.

After the incident, the police have deployed heavy contingents in the area.
The police have registered a case under Section 299 of the BNS and have arrested a person on charges of desecration of the flag.

The police are questioning the person to find out what is the motive behind this act.
Heavy police deployment has been made to ensure law and order in the area. The situation is currently normal and peaceful and senior police officers are present at the scene. DCP Ragsodha said that after insulting and allegedly desecrating the religious flag, the police have taken one person into custody and a case has been registered and an investigation has begun. Currently, peace is restored, but tension persists. The police have issued an alert and arrangements have been increased.