City: Mumbai

Name: Gopal Chinayya Shetty Constituency: Mumbai North Member of Parliament, Gopal Chinayya Shetty, 69 has been representing the area that falls under Mumbai North constituency in various capacities. First, he worked as a local corporator for three terms since 1992 and later, went on to become Mumbai’s deputy mayor. After that he rose to the state assembly from the Maharashtra legislative assembly from 2004 to 2014.  Since then, Shetty has been representing the Mumbai North constituency for two Parliamentary terms. In 2014, Shetty defeated Congress’ Sanjay Nirupam by polling in 70.1% of the voteshare by getting 6,64,004 votes as against…

New names for eight suburban railway stations The state government has given its in-principle go ahead for the renaming of eight suburban railway stations in Mumbai. Shiv Sena MP Rahul Shewale said that after the decision is ratified by the state cabinet, the proposal will be sent to the Union government. Curry Road station will be called Lalbaug, Sandhurst Road will be renamed Dongri,  Marine Lines as Mumbadevi, Charni Road will be called Girgaon, Cotton Green station is set to be renamed Kalachowki, Dockyard is to be called Mazgaon, King’s Circle as Tirthankar Parswanath, and Mumbai Central as Nana Jagannath…

A month after the BMC announced its budget for the fiscal year 2024-25, experts called for greater citizen participation in the planning and implementation of the budget. Not only is the BMC the richest civic body in the country, but also this year they have announced the highest budget ever at nearly Rs. 60,000 crore. Secondly, elections have not taken place after the term of the previous elected officials ended in March 2022. The Municipal Commissioner, appointed as the administrator, has been at the helm of the civic body's functioning for two years now. The corporation was put under an administrator…

Devendra Fadnavis, the deputy chief minister of Maharashtra recently launched the Mumbai Metropolis  Metaverse, an immersive virtual representation of the way Mumbai will look by the year 2025. This metaverse includes twelve infrastructure projects, which is said will transform Mumbai. One of these projects is the Mumbai Metro. Citizen Matters looks at existing Metro Lines, their connections with Central and Western suburban railways and the prominent areas/stations they connect. Which are the three lines currently operational in Mumbai? Blue Line or Line 1 On 8th June, 2014 the first metro line was started in Mumbai. It was dubbed the Blue…

Pod taxis to run in BKC Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA)  has recently given the go-ahead to introduce a pod taxi service between Bandra and Kurla. The route will go via the Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) and will be 8.8 km long. A pod taxi is a driverless vehicle, which can accommodate five to six people. The pods are suspended 8 to 10 metres over the ground from an overhead rail. Their movement is powered by electricity. They descend at designated stops to let the passengers out and take in new ones. The taxis will stop at 38 stops…

Over the years, the Kharghar Hills in Navi Mumbai, have seen many forest fires. According to the Kharghar Fire Station records, between 1st January 2022 and 11th September 2023, totally 164 calls were received relating to fire. Forest fires usually occur after the monsoon season, once the grass starts drying up. Interestingly, Navi Mumbai and the areas nearby are less likely to be affected by natural forest fires, as the temperature in the area does not increase too much.   Many of these fires are man-made, as are 90% of all forest fires. In Kharghar, the hills are characterised by…

When Sangeeta Kharat noticed a lump near her neck, she sought treatment at MT Agarwal Municipal Hospital, Mulund, near her residence. Doctors diagnosed her with thyroid nodules, an abnormal growth of cells on the thyroid gland, and referred her to Lokmanya Tilak Municipal Corporation Hospital at Sion for further treatment. Sangeeta's son, Rajan, initially opted for treatment at Sion Hospital. However, due to the distance and frequency of trips with his job, they decided to switch to a nearby private hospital despite higher costs. Rajan said, " If the MT Agarwal super-speciality hospital had been available, we wouldn't have needed…

After the COVID-19 pandemic, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) prioritised healthcare infrastructure in Mumbai. In 2022-23, BMC allocated Rs 6933.75 crore for the health budget, marking a 46% increase from the previous year (2021-22). BMC increased the share of the total budget dedicated to health up to 15%, the highest in the decade. Moreover, BMC invested Rs 2660.65 crore for health capital expenditure, more than doubling the prior year's allocation. These funds were primarily focused on completing delayed hospital redevelopment projects, upgrading dispensaries and maternity homes, procuring medical equipment, and expanding health infrastructure across the city.  Health actual budget expenditure…

When Jitendra Dixit, a journalist and author, who lives in Wadala, went by the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL) or Atal Setu, he found that it barely saved him 5-10 minutes from Mumbai to Pune in spite of paying a toll of Rs 250.   The MTHL, which connects Navi Mumbai and south Mumbai, was inaugurated with great fanfare on January 12th 2024. But the toll fee seems to have put off a lot of people, because in its first month till February 13th 2024, only 8,13,774 commuters had used it. It collected revenue of Rs 1, 39, 585,310 with a…

When the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link or Atal Setu was nearing completion, the most discussed issue about the project was not about it being an engineering marvel, but what the toll charges were likely to be. Whether it is the Mumbai-Pune Expressway or the Bandra-Worli Sea Link, when a project that improves the road connectivity for people, invariably tolls are charged - sometimes to recover project costs and later for maintenance. As more and more projects get unveiled, commuters feel frustrated about various toll charges they pay to use the roads that may ease and facilitate their travel, but escalate…