CM launches BMC’s ‘Participate Mumbai’, boosts CSR-led collaboration

The BMC has identified projects worth around ₹189 crore across gardens, education, healthcare and solid waste management that can be taken up under the initiative

MUMBAI: Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday launched ‘Participate Mumbai’, a tech-led platform that will enable collaborations between the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and private entities such as corporate organisations, CSR foundations, NGOs and citizens, who can support the development of civic infrastructure.

Mumbai, India - Oct. 6, 2026: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis during the launch of the BMC’s ‘Participate Mumbai’ initiative and signing of an MoU with governance advisory organisation Samagra. The platform will feature more than 450 civic projects, allowing corporates, NGOs and citizens to contribute through CSR, technology, equipment, skills and volunteers, at BMC head Office in Mumbai, India, on Tuesday, October 6, 2026. (Photo by Anshuman Poyrekar/Hindustan Times) (Anshuman Poyrekar/HT Photo)

The BMC has identified projects worth around ₹189 crore across gardens, education, healthcare and solid waste management that can be taken up under the initiative. “It is a platform for participation, for asking what you and we can do together for the last person in society,” Fadnavis said, underlining the importance of collaboration in civic development.

The platform will list projects in areas where the BMC requires external support. Entities opting to participate can choose projects in sectors such as education, healthcare, water, employment, environment, gardens, beautification and poverty alleviation. Organisations can also propose their own projects for implementation with the civic body.

“What is more important is not how much money has been spent through CSR, but how much public welfare has been achieved and what impact has been created,” Fadnavis said while launching the tech-enabled, single-window mechanism.

“However, we did not have an effective platform through which such contributions could be channelled. Many people may approach a hospital saying they want to donate machines, or approach a garden saying they want to contribute in some way but there was no mechanism to coordinate these efforts,” Bhide said.

Under the new platform, the BMC will identify projects requiring support and match offers from organisations and individuals with its requirements. The projects identified so far cover education, healthcare, gardens, environment, solid waste management and social infrastructure. They include smart classrooms and STEM facilities, sports infrastructure, digital literacy initiatives, theme gardens, biodiversity parks, tree adoption, medical equipment, dialysis centres, lake rejuvenation, tree plantation, recycling facilities and other social infrastructure projects. The BMC has also invited CSR-registered companies and volunteers to propose projects not currently listed but can be implemented in partnership with the BMC.

On day one, Hindustan Unilever handed over ₹25 crore in CSR funding to the BMC for setting up ten facility centres, single-window service hubs that provide civic services to citizens quickly.

Alongside the Participate Mumbai platform, the BMC launched ‘Samagra’, an initiative focused on improving civic governance and service delivery. “There is a need to reduce unnecessary steps in administration and undertake business process re-engineering,” Fadnavis said.

The state government’s analysis of around 1,100 online services had found that nearly 200 were not actually being used by citizens. It subsequently identified around 45 to 47 widely used services and schemes where improvements in delivery could benefit nearly 90% of users, he said.

Bhide said the Samagra initiative would focus on creating an integrated mechanism for grievance redressal and emergency response, along with measurable standards for service delivery. “Just as citizen participation is important, it is equally important to have an efficient and responsive administration. When citizens lodge complaints or when messages regarding emergency situations are received, we need an effective integrated grievance-redressal and emergency-response system,” she said.

An integrated real-time dashboard will allow the performance of departments, wards and senior officials to be assessed. “It is not enough to simply say that a service is good; citizens should be able to rate how good the service actually is,” she added.