Split Mumbai civic body for better supervision, says legislator in Maharshtra assembly

The MLA drew the House’s attention to the fire incident and said there was a need to appoint three municipal commissioners.

Noisy scenes and pandemonium prevailed in the Maharashtra state Assembly on Tuesday when members from across the Opposition as well as Treasury benches trooped to the well of the House to protest and counter protest remarks against senior Congress member Asif Naseem Khan over trifurcation of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation for better supervision.

The MLA porposed this owing to the workload on the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. (HT FILE)

Khan drew the House’s attention to the fire incident and said there was a need to appoint three municipal commissioners. Soon members from treasury benches were on their toes accusing him of talking about trifurcation of Mumbai. The House was first adjourned for 10 minutes and later for 30 minutes.

Mentioning about the workload on the BMC, Khan proposed the division of Mumbai civic body into three parts – Mumbai city, Mumbai suburb (East) and Mumbai suburb (West) on the line of Municipal Corporation of Delhi.

Highlighting the fire incident in Mumbai on Monday, Khan said nowadays such incidents are frequent in Mumbai. “The Mumbai civic body has proved to be totally incapable of handling such incidents. It is important that civic body takes precautionary measures so that such incidents can be avoided in future, and for that, it is necessary that the workload on Mumbai Municipal Corporation is lessened. Hence, I put forth this demand of Mumbai’s Trifurcation,” he suggested.

The BJP and Shiv Sena MLAs expressed strong opposition to the trifurcation and asked to dismiss the topic.

BJP’s Ashish Shelar, Raj Purohit and others accused Khan of trying to create a rift and trifurcate Mumbai which they said would not be allowed.

As noisy protests continued, BJP leader Subhash Sabne made a derogatory remark against Khan which worsened the situation and Opposition members, Yashomati Thakur, Virendra Jagtap, Sunil Kedar and others stormed in the well of the house. Soon treasury benches led by Shelar, Purohit and others also marched to the Podium and raised slogans against Khan castigating him.

The Speaker then adjourned the House for 10 minutes. When the House reassembled there was no respite from noisy scenes and finally Speaker adjourned the House for half an hour to end the stalemate.