Mumbai : The administration was kind to the political party at the BMC headquarters.  All the political parties did not take any permission nor bothered to pay the rent nor paid the electricity charges even after the tenure of the corporators in the Mumbai Municipal Corporation. Claiming that there is only one meter in the entire headquarters, the BMC has made a strange claim that the information about the collection of permit rent is not available on record in its reply to RTI activist Anil Galgali.

RTI Activist Anil Galgali had asked the BMC for information about permission granted to political parties, rent charged and electricity rates. The office of the executive engineer at the headquarters explained to Anil Galgali that despite the completion of the tenure of the corporator in the BMC, the information about the approval of all the political party offices at the municipal headquarters starting till 28 December 2022 is not available in the records of his office. The information about the rent charged for this is not available in the records of his office. Meanwhile, the Mechanical and Electrical Department informed that there is only one electricity meter for the old building for the BMC headquarters and no separate electricity meter has been given for the corporator’s office. Due to this, it is not possible to separate the amount of electricity bill used for political parties for the BMC headquarters.

According to Mr. Galgali, the BMC administration was lenient even though all political party offices had to be closed as per the rules after the end of the tenure. Action should be taken against the officials who are responsible for the office and electricity consumption and the recovery should be done from that political party.