This story is from January 20, 2021

Mumbai: Bhiwandi civic officials on 'study tour' in BMC

Mumbai: Bhiwandi civic officials on 'study tour' in BMC
Officials from the BCNMC visited the BMC on a story tour and studied the water supply projects of the BMC.
MUMBAI: In a first of its kind initiative 10 officials from the Bhiwandi-Nizampur City Municipal Corporation (BNCMC) visited the BMC on a 'study tour’ Tuesday to understand the functioning of the local bay and study the major projects of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) like the water supply systems and the coastal road project.
This was the first of the twinning exercises started by the BMC to extend training and expertise to smaller municipal corporations like BNCMC in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR).

The officials visited the BMC’s disaster management unit and also saw a presentation on the BMC’s ambitious coastal road project. Bhiwandi (East) MLA Rais Shaikh who is also a BMC corporator had requested Municipal Commissioner Iqbal Chahal to allow officials from other local bodies in the MMR region to learn from the BMC.
"This was the first visit and there will be more such visits. The idea is to let the smaller towns and cities around Mumbai also learn the best practices in urban planning and development. The BMC must become a leader in this. There are more than half a dozen small local bodies in the MMR that have neither funds nor expertise. These study tours will help officials learn how to run cities and solve problems,” Shaikh said.
MMR, according to officials, is equivalent to the Delhi’s-National Capital Region (NCR). This regions spread across three districts includes Mumbai and the satellite towns of Thane, Kalyan-Dombivli, Navi Mumbai, Vasai-Virar, Mira-Bhayander, Bhiwandi-Nizampur, Dombivli, Ulhasnagar, and parts of Raigad and Palghar districts. It is spread over 6,355 square kilometres, or 2.1% of Maharashtra’s total area.

"By such study tours, human resource capacity can be enhanced and smaller towns will get a lot of help on subjects like Development Plan (DP) and town planning. This institutional arrangement must be strengthened further,” Shaikh said.
Sandeep Patnawar, a deputy engineer at BNCMC, “There is not much modernisation in Bhiwandi. There were many key takeaways. We understood how the underground water reservoirs function. The BMC uses electro chlorination and we use gas chlorination in Bhiwandi. So these things are very impressive and we can implement them in Bhiwandi. This kind of exchange must happen on a regular basis,” Patnawar.
Bhiwandi is an industrial township in Thane district on the outskirts of Mumbai. It has a population of around 10 lakh.
End of Article
FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA