Overview
- Mayor Ritu Tawde declared Prabhakar Shinde and Rajeshree Shirwadkar elected unopposed on Feb. 20 after Shiv Sena (UBT) chose not to field candidates, making Shinde the first BJP chair of the Standing Committee in a quarter century.
- Shirwadkar set a push to rebuild demolished municipal schools and upgrade facilities with labs and smart classrooms while planning procurement on the government e‑marketplace to ensure transparency and timely delivery of the 27 free items.
- Shinde outlined fiscal discipline as his core agenda, targeting stronger revenue systems as property tax collections hover near 50% of targets, with stricter audits, staff training and taxpayer outreach to recover dues.
- He prioritized monsoon readiness and basic services, calling for drain desilting, pothole repairs, asphalt or concrete road treatments with utility ducts, better medicines in civic hospitals, rainwater harvesting, the Gargai dam timeline and traffic guidance via digital signboards.
- The education system under the committee spans 400‑plus institutions and roughly 27,615 primary students with 7,453 teachers, and the municipal budget is slated to reach the Standing Committee on Feb. 25 for discussion.