Maharashtra
This year, BMC promises good health, infra, ecology, ease and quality of life for Mumbai
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Thursday unveiled a whopping Rs 45,949.21 crore budget 2022-2023, up by 18 per cent over the previous year’s
Rs 39,039.83 crore with a tiny surplus of Rs 8.43 crore.
With the upcoming BMC elections, this year, the country’s biggest and richest civic body will have a massive focus on health, infrastructure, ecology, flood control, besides improving the ‘ease’ and ‘quality’ of life for the 1.75-crore Mumbaikars living in the country’s commercial and glamour capital.
Some highlights are constructing and redevelopment of major hospitals, rejuvenation of the Mithi river, electric vehicle charging centres, IGCSE and IB schools in the Mumbai civic education bouquet, and appointing Urban Space Designers to improve the civic landscape.
Presenting the budget at the Standing Committee meeting, Municipal Commissioner I. S. Chahal said that the estimated revenues this year would be Rs 30,743.61 crore, which is higher by Rs 2,832.04 crore over the previous year’s estimates, and the actual income received till January 2022 was Rs 30,851.18 crore.
On the crucial health front – as the city was the worst-hit in the country during the Covid-19 pandemic of the past two years – the BMC will spend Rs 6933.75 crore – or 15.09 per cent of the total budget – to augment and improve various health-care facilities.
This would include: 200 HinduHridaysamrat Balasaheb Thackeray Health Centres under the ‘Health care at your neighbourhood’ scheme, setting up 200 Shiv Yoga Centres, standardising and modernising civic dispensaries, constructing a new Centenary Hospital in Govandi, a medical college building at Cooper Hospital, redevelopment of two major medical facilities – Bhagwati Hospital in Borivali, Sion Hospital, plus Sidharth/Murli Deora Eye Hospitals, a new Cancer Hospital for Proton Therapy at the KEM Hospital premises, expanding the MT Agarwal Hospital and Bhabha Hospital, extending the Nair Dental College, etc.
Eyeing the civic polls, the BMC will stress on major flood-control measures with an outlay of Rs 1,539.79 crore, for the revival of the 18-kms long Mithi River and its other branches in the suburbs at Dahisar, Poisar, Oshiwara and their major drainage nullahs, plus 386 chronic flood spots that result in submerging many parts of the city during the monsoons.
Chahal said that 95 per cent of the widening and deepening work, 80 per cent of retaining wall construction of Mithi River are completed which has doubled the holding capacity and carrying capacity by 3 times, while the plan for development and pollution control is ready and shall be implemented in four packages.
The BMC has strengthened the capacity to pump out floodwaters in different parts of the city, improved its Storm Water Drain network based on the BRIMSTOWAD Master Plan Report of 1993, and of 58 priority works, 42 have been completed, 13 are in progress and 3 have yet to be taken up.
On the infrastructure front, the BMC will spend Rs 3200 crore for the ambitious Coastal Road Project, visualised by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Rs 1300 crore for the Goregaon-Mulund Link Road with 2 flyovers, and Rs 1340 crore for a Sewerage Treatment Project.
For the ‘eco-friendly’ image of Mumbai known as a ‘concrete jungle,’ a significant 219 kms of roads in the city will be improved during the year, electronic vehicle (EV) charging stations in all the 30 major public parking lots, EVs shall be deployed for garbage collection-segregation, Rs 1 crore specifically for ‘electric and electronic waste’ recovery centre in each BMC Ward, more electric crematoria and eco-friendly funeral pyres.
On January 14, the BMC became only the 3rd civic body in the world after Dubai and Singapore to offer 80 public services via a ChatBot, and this year it will become ‘smarter’ by permitting ‘digital advertisements’ to boost revenue, promote digital forms of collecting Property Tax and Water Tax bills, and also other payments.
Stressing on education with a budget of Rs 3370.24 crore – 14.45 per cent higher than last year’s Rs 2945.78 crore – the BMC plans to provide 19,401 SSC students with tabs with latest syllabus, an improvement academic tool in the days of online education, digitalise 1,300 classrooms, and a pilot project of E-Libraries in 50 primary schools.
Already offering the Maharashtra Board, CBSE and ICSE boards in civic schools, this year the BMC will introduce Cambridge University-affiliated IGCSE and one International Baccalaureate (IB) for the derided amunicipality students’.
To ‘ease’ the life of citizens, the BMC will empanel Urban Space Designers to study and rework on roads, pavements, and community spaces to enhance the ‘Ease of Walking’, instal more streetlights for security of women and children and seniors under the ‘Ease of Safety’, new bridges/cement-concrete roads for ‘Ease of Commute’, besides its other ‘easing’ policies like ‘Ease of Doing Business’, ‘Ease of Compliance’, ‘East of Monitoring’ and ‘Ease of Service Delivery’, etc.
In a New Year bonanza announced by the CM, the BMC will exempt Property Tax from 16,14,000 people owning a residential property of 500-sq.feet carpet area which will lead to a drop of Rs 462 crore in the annual revenues.
The Congress Group Leader in BMC Ravi Raja and Bharatiya Janata Party city MLA Ashish Shelar and other opposition parties slammed the budget as ‘disappointing’ and ‘lacking on various fronts’.
Maharashtra
‘Save the Vote, Save the Nation’: Rahul Gandhi urges people to join INDIA bloc’s ‘Chalo Dilli’ march

Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, on Sunday urged people to join the INDIA bloc’s ‘Chalo Dilli’ march in the national capital, calling for public participation in the protest against alleged electoral irregularities and demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar.
In a post on X, Rahul Gandhi appealed to people to gather at Connaught Place and march together towards Ramlila Maidan, where the opposition alliance is organising a major rally.
“Delhi, get ready! Save the Vote, Save the Nation. Come to Connaught Place, let’s march together. Or meet directly at Ramlila Maidan – but you must come. Today | 12 PM,” he posted.
The INDIA bloc has expressed optimism about public participation in the rally, asserting that the protest would witness “historic participation” extending beyond party workers.
Earlier in the day, while speaking to media, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut described the gathering as a “mega rally” and said the opposition would continue its agitation until the Chief Election Commissioner stepped down.
“They (the government) may be under the assumption that the agitation has ended, but we won’t let them go until Gyanesh Kumar resigns,” he asserted.
Raut also reiterated Rahul Gandhi’s allegation that people were being stopped from participating in the rally.
The INDIA bloc is organising the large-scale gathering at Ramlila Maidan to protest alleged electoral irregularities, oppose the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and demand the resignation of CEC Gyanesh Kumar.
The opposition alliance expects a major show of strength, as leaders from constituent parties, workers, and student groups have started to gather at the venue. The protest comes amid allegations by opposition parties of irregularities in the voter list revision process being undertaken by the Election Commission of India (ECI).
Meanwhile, extensive security arrangements have been put in place across New Delhi and Central Delhi ahead of the rally. Additional personnel from the Rapid Action Force (RAF), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), along with Delhi Police personnel, have been deployed around Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Marg.
Delhi Police have also tightened security across the national capital. Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) is in force across Delhi districts, and gatherings have been prohibited at key locations, including Jantar Mantar and the Election Commission office.
Bollywood
Tiger Shroff firing case: 12th accused sent to police custody till Nov 6

A Mumbai court on Saturday sent Amar, the 12th accused arrested from Haryana’s Sonipat in connection with the firing incident on Bollywood actor Tiger Shroff, to police custody till November 6.
On Thursday, a special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court had sent 11 other accused arrested in connection with the firing on Shroff’s car to police custody till November 6.
The latest accused was arrested from Rohna village in Sonipat.
Earlier in the day, the Mumbai Police had produced Amar before a court, which sent him to police custody until November 6.
According to officials, Amar is accused of having transferred money, allegedly used in the commission of the crime, online. The funds were reportedly used for various expenses, including the purchase of a motorcycle and booking hotel rooms linked to the case.
According to the preliminary investigation, Amar is a friend and neighbour of Kunal, who was arrested earlier in the case. Police investigations have revealed that Kunal allegedly transferred Rs 40,000 to Amar’s bank account.
Amar subsequently transferred Rs 12,000 to Radha’s bank account, another accused arrested earlier, allegedly on Kunal’s instructions.
The Mumbai Police are investigating these financial transactions to establish the purpose of the transfers and determine the connections between the accused. The money trail is being examined as part of the wider investigation into the firing incident.
Amar, who studied up to Class 10, works at a supplements shop. His parents reportedly earn their livelihood through daily-wage labour.
Meanwhile, Amar’s family has claimed that he is innocent and alleged that he has been falsely implicated in the case.
With nine of the 12 arrested accused reportedly belonging to Sonipat, the district has emerged as a key focus of the Mumbai Police investigation.
The police are examining the financial dealings and personal connections among the accused to establish the sequence of events and identify the roles played by individual suspects.
Maharashtra
36-year-old absconding accused arrested from Gujarat in Mumbai non-bailable warrant

Mumbai: The Mumbai Crime Branch has claimed the arrest of a wanted suspect, against whom a non-bailable warrant had been issued by the court in connection with a theft case. The 29-year-old complainant was en route to deliver diamonds, gold jewelry, and cash from his shop when, in front of the main entrance of the Panchratna Building, four unidentified individuals—acting in conspiracy—threatened him with a revolver and a knife. They injured him and forcibly stole the diamonds, jewelry, and cash, valued at approximately 2,048,964 rupees. A case was subsequently registered at the D.B. Marg Police Station. Following further investigation by Crime Branch Unit 2, a charge sheet was filed in court. The 59-year-old suspect involved in this crime had repeatedly failed to appear in court during the proceedings, leading to the issuance of a non-bailable warrant against him. The Crime Branch carried out this operation to execute the said warrant.
Acting on direct intelligence and technical analysis, the police team tracked down the 59-year-old suspect—who was a wanted individual subject to a non-bailable warrant—and took him into custody on October 30th in Gaonpur, Vadodara district, Gujarat. This operation was conducted under the directives of Mumbai Police Commissioner Deven Bharti, with the involvement of Joint Police Commissioner Anil Kumbhare, Additional Commissioner Krishna Kant Upadhyay, and DCP Raj Tilak Roshan.
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