Mumbai: Congress corporator Ashraf Azmi had written to the municipal commissioner, Ajoy Mehta, demanding that the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) should organise the ‘Mumbai Marathon’, currently organised by Standard Chartered Bank and Procam every year. However, Mehta has rejected Azmi’s demand, saying that conducting the marathon is not a duty of the corporation. Asraf said the Mumbai Marathon is held every year, on the third Sunday of January. Large numbers of people from various walks of life – celebrities, political leaders, businessmen, students and the differently abled – participate in this event.
Through the marathon, messages spreading awareness about the environment, cleanliness, anti-terrorism, water conservation, plantation, health and education are conveyed to the masses. For this one-day event, the BMC provides various facilities to the organisers and contestants. The organisers earn revenue from advertising but the effort yields no dividends for the corporation, though it spends funds for the purpose. The organisers owe the BMC a huge amount and to escape action from the BMC, they have approached court. In view of this, Pune and Thane municipal corporations had begun to organise the marathon themselves. This is what led Azmi to demand the same from the BMC.
