Overview
- India’s richest civic body, the BMC, approved on Thursday Rs 58.5 crore for 15 corporators from a Rs 800 crore ward fund carved out of its Rs 80,000 crore budget.
- Four BJP corporators received Rs 34.75 crore, while two Shiv Sena members got Rs 20 crore, giving the BJP the largest share.
- Eleven of the 15 recipients sit on the 26-member standing committee that controls civic finances, concentrating gains among those who decide the payouts.
- Notable grants include Rs 20 crore to Leader of the House Ganesh Khankar and Rs 10 crore each to Rajashree Shirwadkar, Amey Ghole, and Deputy Mayor Sanjay Ghadi, with Rs 2.25 crore to Mayor Ritu Tawde and Rs 2.5 crore to chair Prabhakar Shinde.
- Each of the 227 corporators already gets Rs 1.6 crore a year for civic works, and officials say these extra funds are based on demand and merit, raising transparency questions as the Mayor also has a separate Rs 150 crore development fund.