Mumbai: The mayor of Mumbai, Kishori Pednekar, has decided not to use the car provided by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for the mayor’s family and instead, donate the allowance for this vehicle to the mayoral fund. She informed reporters about this decision at a meeting on Friday, in which her deputy, Suhas Pednekar too was present.
From the interest accrued on the mayor's fund of Rs 2 crore, the poor can get up to Rs 25,000 in assistance. The money which could be saved by not using a second car could be diverted to this fund, said Pednekar. "My family has four members, including me, and I have a car. Other members of my family prefer to use public transport. I will see if the car allowance can be diverted to the mayoral fund so that it can be used to help people,” she said.
Further, she said, since the new CM is our Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, "I will try to ensure more power for the mayor".
Mayor Pednekar and deputy mayor Wadkar spoke to reporters about what their focus would be in their tenure of two-and-a-half years. Bearing in mind the rapidly increasing population, which means increased water requirement, Pednekar said “I will ensure the speeding up of work on the Gargai and Pinjar projects. These must be completed to take care of the increased need for water.”
To improve the performance of BMC schools, the public mindset that BMC schools are not good must be changed, she feels. "The BMC provides good education. Surprise inspections are done to check the condition of the school buildings, the observance of hygiene and so on. The BMC is already providing 27 study materials free of cost to its students, on the first day of school. Along with these, students are given a bus pass by the civic education department," she pointed out.
She is also keen on starting initiatives to draw more passengers to the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport, to cut down the use of personal vehicles and thereby, to reduce air pollution.
The BMC will focus attention on drawing more students to civic-run schools by modernising municipal schools and implementing various programmes to enhance the quality of education in these schools. Efforts will be made to implement the development plan of 2034.
The municipal corporation will endeavour to increase citizens' participation in the city's plastic-free campaign, the mayor informed.
