TOI : When the BMC budget was a mere Rs 5cr : Aug 24, 2007

When the BMC budget was a mere Rs 5cr
Shalini Nair | TNN

    Still reeling under the strain put on civic finances by World War II,
the Bombay corporation had to hobble by on a budget of Rs 5 crore in 1947.
Small change compared to its hefty treasure chest of Rs 12,000 crore today,
making it one of the richest corporations in Asia.

    Those were years of privation. Municipal commissioner B K Patel
announced in May 1947 that the corporation's deficit was Rs 64.35 lakh.
Financial woes apart, there was the huge challenge of dealing with a
population in flux: the fears of an attack by the Japanese in 1944 and 1945
had led to a mass exodus from the city but now that those fears had been
allayed the migrants were moving back. At this time Bombay had also begun to
stretch itself, expanding its limits from Mahim to Andheri in the west and
from Sion to Ghatkopar in the East. "From 1941 to 1951, the population
jumped from 18 lakh to 29 lakh, and the suburbs had no proper drinking water
supply, roads or drainage,'' said historian Aroon Tikekar.

    But old timers look back to that era with fondness, for Bombay was still
small enough to be cared for. The roads and trams were washed every day, and
the slums were still consigned to a few pockets. 1947 was also the year when
the corporation took over BEST with its fleet of 240 buses on 23 routes and
64 trams. Today the BEST operates 3380 buses on 335 routes.

    The exchequer may have been impoverished but this was offset more than
amply by the quality of debates in the august house. When it came to the
calibre of corporators, 1947 was like any other year that preceded it.
Freedom fighter Kapila Kandwalla, who had a master's degree from the US, a
feat in those days), was at the head of the school committee, a sharp
contrast to Neeta Naik (wife of gangster Ashwin Naik) who held the same post
about seven years ago. Then there was lawyer Jamnadas Mehta who was arrested
by the British when he was the mayor but released after the 1944 Fort
Stikine dock explosion, to handle the rehabilitation. Other stalwarts
included Sulochana Modi, who went on to become Mumbai's first woman mayor,
trade unionist-lawyer Yusuf Meheraully (who coined the slogan Quit India)
and Mancherji Joshi whose statue adorns the Dadar Parsi Colony today.

    And who can forget S K Patil, who had the unprecedented record of
holding the mayor's post three times post-independence and was a leader of
great standing in Maharashtra's political history. "Patil had a good hold
over both the Marathi working class and the Gujarati businessmen. He was
known to have ushered in democratisation of the BMC by introducing the
practice of commissioners meeting the leaders of political parties to
discuss important issues,'' said ex-municipal commissioner S S Tinaikar, who
as a teenager often saw S K Patil strolling on the beach from his Girgaum
residence to Chowpatty.

    As Aroon Tikekar puts it, "Back then they were called nagar pite (civic
fathers) but they thought of themselves as servants of the society. Today
they are commonly known as nagar sevaks (civic servants) but they behave as
if they are civic fathers.''

    Elections campaigns of the time did not have the money and muscle of
today's political circus. It was quite common for independents to stand for
elections and win. "As a ten year old, I had campaigned for my uncle Dr
Bhalchandra Rajadhyaksha along with other family members and friends. He was
a corporator until 1948, winning the elections against major parties like
the Indian National Congress and the Hindu Mahasabha. While my uncle was a
popular medical practitioner, even his fellow corporators were stalwarts
from professions like law and teaching. They were elected purely on merit,''
said 81-year-old retired IAS officer J G Rajadhyaksha.

    When war broke in Europe in 1939, civic elections were put on hold. It
was only after independence that elections were held again. Celebrating the
spirit of freedom, adult franchise was introduced for the first time in
1948-till then only tax payers had the right to vote. The years immediately
after independence also saw a frantic pulling down of statues of Englishmen
and a road-renaming spree.

    The Indianisation of roads had a curious irony, given that the British
names were put there by none than Indians themselves. "It is interesting to
note that all these Sir so-and-so kind of English names for roads were
proposed by the corporators themselves. The British never interfered with
the naming of roads. But for a section of the city it was fashionable to do
'wah wah' of the British,'' said historian Deepak Rao.

    (This is the 13th in a series of various aspects of everyday life in
Mumbai in the year the country made the transition from Raj to Swaraj)

FLASHBACK: Mumbai's uncrowned king and then mayor S K Patil addresses the
BMC house in 1950

Publication:Times Of India Mumbai; Date:Aug 24, 2007; Section:Times City;
Page Number:11

URL :
http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=VE9JTS8yMDA3LzA4LzI0I0FyMDExMDA=&Mode=HTML&Locale=english-skin-custom