Subhash Desai, Vinod Tawde appointed as Mumbai's guardians

Guardian ministers are appointed to ensure the development plans of the districts are implemented. This is monitored through the district planning and development council (DPDC) meetings chaired by the minister.

Education minister Vinod Tawde and industries minister Subhash Desai have been appointed as guardian ministers of Mumbai.

While Desai will be in-charge of the island city, spanning from Colaba to Sion, Tawde will head the suburban area from Bandra to Dahisar in the west and Sion to Mulund in the east.

MSRDC minister Eknath Shinde from the Shiv Sena has been given the charge of Thane, while housing minister Prakash Mehta is the guardian minister of Raigad, one of the fastest growing districts in the state.

Guardian ministers are appointed to ensure the development plans of the districts are implemented. This is monitored through the district planning and development council (DPDC) meetings chaired by the minister.

Also, in case of metros like Mumbai, the ministers act as a connecting point between the local municipal corporations, district collector and the government for projects.

The guardian ministers are also supposed to supervise relief and rescue work in case of emergencies.

Most of the major cities have been allotted to senior BJP ministers — parliamentary affairs minister Girish Bapat will be guardian minister of Pune, water supplies minister Girish Mahajan has been allotted Nashik and Nandurbar, power minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule will head Nagpur, while cooperation minister Chandrakant Patil will look after Kolhapur and Sangli.

Meanwhile, Shiv Sena, which won major seats in Konkan, have ensured their ministers, MoS housing Ravindra Waikar and MoS forests Deepak Kesarkar, are heading the Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts respectively.

Senior Sena leader and environment minister Ramdas Kadam has been made guardian minister of Aurangabad.