Corporators hardly care about policy changes

Of the 227 corporators, only 82 – that is 37% -- have proposed a new policy or suggested changes in the existing policies in the last five years, states the data obtained from the civic body’s municipal secretary department.

Of the 227 corporators, only 82 – that is 37% -- have proposed a new policy or suggested changes in the existing policies in the last five years, states the data obtained from the civic body’s municipal secretary department.

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As per the corporation procedure rules (CPR), to effect any policy-level change, a corporator has to propose a Notice of Motion (NoM) at the general body meeting of the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). If approved with a majority, the NoM is moved to the administration, which can then give its opinion on the feasibility of its implementation.

While 82 corporators did propose NoMs in the last five years, 145 did not demand any changes in the policies. Only 29 of the 81 corporators from the ruling Shiv Sena proposed NoMs, while 52 corporators refrained from making any proposal. A prominent example in the latter category could be mayor Shraddha Jadhav. In her three-year tenure before getting elected as the mayor in December 2009, Jadhav did not propose a single change.

The most inactive corporators were from the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS). From their seven corporators, six never proposed a single policy change through NoM. Despite repeated attempts, MNS group leader Mangesh Sangle remained unavailable for comment.

Said mayor Shraddha Jadhav: “I don’t think the data is correct. I have proposed NoMs in my term.” However, she said that she was unaware of the exact number of NoMs she had proposed.