I work quickly, and my name is Chahal

Following the publication of a story by Midday that exposed the municipal commissioner’s billion-dollar spending spree in the face of criticism, I S Chahal has defended his approval of R1.10 lakh crore in expenditure over the previous two years. We are approving projects more quickly now—a few days after they come to me,” he said. He continued, saying that the city needs these improvements. He said, “I’m approving these proposals as an administrator.”

The major projects worth Rs 1.10 lakh crore are the Versova Dahisar Connector and the Sewage Treatment Plant. In the last two years, we have authorized projects, some of which are small-scale initiatives. In the meantime, the opposition requests that the municipal chief reveal the source of money for these initiatives, claiming that this is an arbitrary administration.

“In the coming months, we are going to approve a few more mega projects that are needed by the city and are worth Rs 20,000 crore,” Chahal said. These include the approximately Rs 3,500 crore desalination project, the Rs 7,000 crore concrete road project, and several water delivery projects.

“This shows the attitude of the administrator,” said Ravi Raja, the former Leader of Opposition in the BMC. Administrators are unwilling to respond to corporators. “We used to raise questions about spending and project acceleration when corporators were present,” he said. The municipal leader doesn’t appear to like responding to inquiries. Few projects have costs that increase during the second round of bidding, Raja said. Raja said, “The commissioner needs to know that corporations have the right to reopen this proposal and ask questions of the administration following the corporation election.”

It’s possible that commissioners dislike having their democratic rights violated by inquiries. Although their initiatives have been authorized, further information is required about how the funding for these projects are managed. The representatives of the people would undoubtedly bring up these issues after the elections, according to former mayor Kishori Pednekar.

“Mumbai’s development is unquestionably positive. But these tasks have to be completed after consultation. The representative of the people is the citizen representative. The government and representatives of the people are two wheels. BJP Mumbai chief and MLA Adv Ashish Shelar said, “They ought to collaborate.”