Mumbai: Hours after TOI’s report on Wednesday that the premises housing her official residence—a heritage bungalow in Byculla zoo—was set to undergo a revamp at Rs 2.9 crore within four months of a Rs 2.4-crore facelift, the BMC administration cancelled the tender and mayor Ritu Tawde distanced herself from it.The move came on the heels of massive public and political outrage, particularly over the plan to install bio-absorbent sound barriers along E S Patanwala Road bordering the premises.Earlier in the day, Tawde sought that the work be stayed. By evening, the zoo director’s department, which had floated the tender, proposed its cancellation and the civic administration accepted it.Tawde, who is also a BJP corporator, asserted that she had no connection with the tender and accused Shiv Sena (UBT) of spinning a “fake narrative”. “I have been staying at the mayor’s bungalow only for one-and-a-half months. I never asked for any upgrade. Mumbaikars are intelligent and will not believe such lies,” she said.Sources said city BJP chief Ameet Satam took cognisance of the matter, which led to Tawde seeking the tender’s cancellation and her office issuing a statement on the controversy. “The works mentioned in the tender are not for the mayor’s residence but for the surrounding areas and the zoo premises as a whole. The mayor has no knowledge of the tender, nor was there any reason for the mayor to be aware of it. The mayor has also not requested any of the proposed works,” said the statement.Opposition parties, however, weren’t convinced. Former mayor Kishori Pednekar from Shiv Sena (UBT) questioned how any work at the mayor’s official residence could have been proposed without her knowledge or consent. “It is impossible for such an upgrade to be undertaken without the mayor being aware of it,” she said.Targeting BJP, Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Aaditya Thackeray alleged that public money was being spent on the mayor’s “whims”. In a post on X, he criticised the proposed facelift, questioned the need for sound barriers in an otherwise quiet locality and alleged that BMC was prioritising such expenditure while “handing over Mumbai’s open spaces to private hands”.Congress’s leader in BMC Ashraf Azmi called the planned renovation a waste of taxpayers’ money.Criticism also came from Shiv Sena, BJP’s ally in BMC. Amey Ghole, Shiv Sena’s group leader in the civic House, sought action against the zoo department for proposing the work without the mayor’s consent.Besides the sound barriers, the renovation involved relaying interlocking concrete pavers after laying sewer, stormwater drainage and utility lines, construction of underground and overhead water tanks, renovation of rooms for domestic and security staffers, and fabrication and installation of container-based structures to house a conference hall, according to the tender, which was floated on July 31.
