Opposition condemns Guardian ministers’ offices in BMC HQ

The Opposition on Friday said Mumbai’s guardian ministers setting up offices in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) headquarters has set a wrong precedent and is an act of encroachment on the rights of civic bodies.
The issue was raised in the Maharashtra Assembly by the Nationalist Congress Party’s Jayant Patil. He said the Bharatiya Janta Party’s Mangal Prabhat Lodha, who is the guardian minister of Mumbai suburbs, has set up his office in one of the BMC cabins. “I was the guardian minister of this city, and opening an office in the civic body is encroaching on the rights of the civic body. There is no elected representative in the BMC, and the government has to keep more distance from the local self-government bodies to ensure their independence,” Patil said.
Targeting the state government, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray said the market committee and education committee chairperson’s cabins have been given to two guardian ministers.
Thackeray said if guardian ministers are given cabins in the BMC, then all mayors in the state must get offices in Mantralaya (the state secretariat), and Mumbai MLAs must be provided offices in the civic headquarters.