BMC Full Form

BMC full form for Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. It is also known as Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM). Earlier till 1966, it was known as Municipal Corporation of Greater Bombay (MCGB). BMC is the richest municipal corporation in India as the annual budget of MCGM is more than the annual budget of some smaller states in India. Read on to know the details of BMC, functions, various tax reforms and many more.

What is BMC Full Form?

The full form of BMC is Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. It was set up under the Bombay Municipal Act 1888. Its work involves administration of the city, civic infrastructure and management of the outer territory of Mumbai. The first female corporator of this corporation was Trushna Vishwasrao. She assumed the office in 2015. Corporators in BMC are selected through elections. They are authorized to enforce duty and take care of basic civic infrastructure and act as facilitators between the BMC and people of the city. Currently as of July 2022, the BMC Administrator is under the guidance of I. S. Chahal (IAS). There are a maximum of 227 seats in BMC.

History of Municipal Corporations in India

The Municipal Corporation setup that exists today existence has been established in the year 1664 by the formation of the Municipal Corporation of Kochi. The Municipal Corporation of Kochi was established under the Dutch government. Gradually, as the power and domination of the Dutch declined, the municipal setup was revoked. 

During the era of the British Colonial system in India, the Municipal Corporation was established in the year 1726 after the inception of the Municipal Corporation of Madras in the year 1678. As Mumbai has a large reach expansion due to the city’s commercial and political influence. Therefore, BMC has registered immense growth over the years. Earlier, the Municipal Corporation played a substantial role in the development of various cities from the time of their formation. Carrying out various activities of growth and development of cities as a whole has been the motto of BMC. But, the ‘democratic presence’ and the status of recognition in the eyes of the Government of India happened in 1882. The then viceroy of India, Lord Ripon provided the major powers to the municipal corporation. The act of power transfer made him the Father of Local self-government in India. 

The Municipal corporation body received more power after the enactment of the Government of India Act, of 1919. After the act, the municipal elections started taking place which provided the body with a more democratic and powerful presence and the representation of power.

How Does BMC Work? 

Corporators are authorized to evaluate and regulate the functions of the corporation and to control the matters related to finance and budget such as determining tax, approving contracts, allocating the funds, distributing funds etc.

BMC is headed by an Indian Administration Officer (IAS) who holds the designation of a Municipal Commissioner. The legislature sector of BMC is also known as the Corporation Council. The year of 2017, for the first time saw over 30 contestants from a single ward. It was established and incorporated under the Bombay Municipal Corporation Act of 1888. BMC is responsible for carrying out the administration of the city, the civic infrastructure and in maintaining the suburbs of Mumbai. Trushna Vishwasrao became the first female corporator in 2015 to serve as the BMC leader. The BMC is responsible for various duties such as the maintenance and creation of roads and flyovers, including the lighting and cleaning of roadways.

Moreover, It is supposed to maintain health and sanitation. In this connection, it manages the garbage collection and disposal, hospitals and the water supply and the sewerage. An election is conducted to elect corporators, who are responsible for enforcing duty and basic civic infrastructure. The Mayor, who serves as head of the house, usually belongs to the majority party.

Major Functions of BMC?

As far as the work of BMC is concerned, it is a Municipal Corporation which mainly performs many important tasks like cleaning the city, repairing roads, removing illegal occupation and many more for the benefits of the citizens. Following are the main functions performed by BMC:

1. Road Construction- The first task of BMC is to build roads in the city, to build new roads and to repair broken roads by maintaining them. BMC also carries out the work of repairing the roads from time to time so that no accident can happen, construction of new roads to save people from traffic also comes under these.

2. Construction of Flyover- Construction of flyover in cities also comes under the ambit of work of BMC that is construction and repair of new flyover and maintaining the bridges so that the safety and security of the people running on the bridges is maintained.

3. Care of Cleanliness- The main part of the work of BMC is to take care of the cleanliness of the city and their main objective is to maintain the beauty of the city. Many sweepers are employed for cleaning tasks, who clean the city and play a significant  role in maintaining its beauty.

4. Arrangement of Lighting- Along with beautifying the city, lighting the streets of the city is also one of the functions of BMC. Therefore, BMC carries out the duties of arrangement of street lighting in the concerned areas of wards. Cleaning and lighting of roadways, streets and subways is an important task of the BMC.

5. Removal of Illegal Occupation- BMC has to take legal action against those who forcefully grab large houses and government land illegally and remove the occupation of those illegal lands. BMC is also responsible to look after the encroachment of the Government’s land.

6. Water Supply- The work of supplying water in the city is also of the Municipal Corporation. It is also responsible to initiate the drive against the cleaning of water by cleaning the Municipal tanks, water supply plants in the city and maintaining health and sanitation.

7. Cleaning of Drains- Cleaning of drains and constructing new drains, renovation of old ones, removal of water is done by the administration of the municipal corporation. It is the responsibility of the Municipal Corporation to fulfill these tasks in every city that they carry out their functions.

8. Construction of Parks- To create and maintain the parks and public spaces and to ensure coastal safety by providing lifeguards and other facilities at beaches is one of the important works carried out by BMC. It also maintains records of urban property and enforces building norms if required.

Legislature of BMC

The Corporation Council, the BMC's legislative body, had 227 members as recorded in 2017. For the first time, 31 candidates contested from one ward no. 164 in 2017 which was a remarkable move. The youngest independent candidate elected was Raghvendra Singh, who was 21 years old. One of Asia's wealthiest municipal corporations is BMC.

Administration Process of BMC

An IAS officer acts as Municipal Commissioner and is in charge of administering the BMC, exercising executive authority. Whereas, the corporators, who are in charge of maintaining the fundamental civic infrastructure and upholding the rules and laws, are chosen in a deliberative manner through assembly election. The mayor, who typically belongs to the dominant party, is in charge of the house assuming the power. All administrative business in the BMC was conducted in Marathi as of June 2008, which sparked the controversy. In response, the BMC softened its stance and started accepting forms in English language for including people’s view largely.

What Are the Revenue Sources of BMC?

The administration of BMC is carried out by collecting sources from various sources and departments. The Corporation's income comes from the Central and State Governments which can be divided in the following way:

Revenue from taxes

Following is the Tax related source of revenue for the corporation-

• Property tax.
• Profession tax.
• Entertainment tax.
• Grants from Central and State Government like Goods and Services Tax.
• Advertisement tax.

Revenue from non-tax sources

Following is the Non Tax related source of revenue for the corporation-

• Water usage charges.
• Fees from Documentation services.
• Rent received from municipal property.
• Funds from municipal bonds