Shiv Sena forms 21-member poll panel for upcoming BMC elections

The Shiv Sena on Wednesday announced the formation of a 21member committee headed by party chief and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde to strategise for the upcoming Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC electionsThe panel titled the Chief Executive Committee will be responsible for all key decisions related to the BMC polls It comprises senior Shiv Sena leaders sitting and former legislators and Members of Parliament according to the news agency PTIProminent members include former ministers Ramdas Kadam Anandrao Adsul and Gajanan Kirtikar as well as MPs Shrikant Shinde Milind Deora and Ravindra Waikar MLAs Prakash Surve Ashok Patil Dilip Lande Tukaram Kate Mangesh Kudalkar and Murji Patel along with MLC Manisha Kayande are also part of the committeeFormer MP Rahul Shewale and exMLAs Sada Sarvankar Yamini Jadhav and Shishir Shinde have also been includedElections to the BMC Indias richest civic body with a 2025ndash26 budget of Rs 74427 crore have been pending since March 2022 as per the news agency PTIApart from the BMC elections to several urban and rural local bodies across Maharashtra are also dueBMC to begin concreting 574 roads across Mumbai in OctoberConstruction of 574 concrete roads will begin in October as part of the BMCrsquos mega cement concreting road project under which 2121 roads across Mumbai are planned for concreting These roads were taken up for construction after the 2024 monsoon season and were partially completed Work was halted after being brought to a safe stage before this yearrsquos monsoonA senior civic official said ldquoImmediately after the monsoon season is over work will begin on these 574 roads This should start by October 1 and will be completed by May 2026 Simultaneously work on 776 other roads that have not yet been taken up will also begin Some of these will be completed by May 2027rdquo So far work on 771 roads covering approximately 186 km has been completed under Phase I and Phase II of the project About 64 per cent of Phase I has been completed while 37 per cent of Phase II is done Overall 49 per cent of the project is completeLaunched in 2023 BMCrsquos road concretisation project aims to create more durable roads and reduce potholes Phase I covers 700 roads spanning approximately 324 km while Phase II covers 1421 roads spanning about 377 km As per the original timelines BMC planned to complete Phase I by December 2025 and Phase II by December 2026 A senior civic official said ldquoWe calculated the time required to complete all the planned roads by breaking down the kilometrewise length into smaller portions of 30 to 40 metresWith PTI inputs