Govt to look into demand for more mayoral powers: Maha CM

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis Saturday said that his government will look into the demand to give more financial and administrative rights to mayors of civic bodies.

Fadnavis was addressing a function here on sustainable development organised by the Maharashtra Mayors' Council.

The Council's president, Mumbai Mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar, raised a demand that mayors be given financial and administrative rights and powers be decentralised as most of these are currently with the municipal commissioner.

While Fadnavis said that the state government would look into the issue, he also asked mayors to get acquainted with the powers they already have.

"The rights of a mayor may be limited but if they get acquainted with the the rights already with them, they can make appropriate use of it. The various forums in a municipal corporation give a lot of collective power to mayors," he said.

Speaking on sustainable development, which is the theme of the Mayors' Council meeting, Fadnavis informed that Mumbai was set to get a 2100 million litres per day (MLD) sewage treatment plant which would be the country's, and perhaps the world's, biggest such facility.

Calling water an economic commodity, Fadnavis said that the state government had laid down a policy which stipulates that MIDCs (Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation clusters) will have to obtain treated waste water for its needs for three years.

This policy, he said, was creating an economic model for civic bodies and was also allowing fresh water to be used for essential purposes like drinking and farming.