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Congress MLA Amin Patel has written to Municipal Commissioner Ashwini Bhide demanding an inquiry into allotment of five BMC school plots under the civic body's PPP policy, the report said. Patel alleged the policy was framed when BMC had no elected house and claimed hasty implementation could cause civic losses instead of public benefit in Mumbai for students.

Mumbai: After BJP now Congress leader has raised strong objections to the BMC’s public-private partnership (PPP) policy for municipal school plots. Congress MLA Amin Patel has written to Muncipal Commissioner Ashwini Bhide and has demanded to set up an inquiry on allotment of five school plots under the policy and take legal action on the concerned officials.

Six school plots identified

The BMC has identified six municipal school plots to be handed over to private operators under its PPP model — Kanya Shala and MHB Urdu School in Malad, the Mahim BMC School, Malad Dhanjiwadi School, Vakola BMC School and Thakur Village BMC School. Of these, five have already received responses from private organisations. In a letter to the civic administration, Patel alleged that the policy was framed when the BMC had no elected civic house, bypassing detailed discussion and consultation with representatives. Questioning the transparency of the process, he claimed the policy was being implemented in haste and could end up causing losses to the civic body instead of delivering public benefit.

He further said, "Several organisations are already successfully running free education initiatives in BMC schools with strong SSC results, and should be encouraged to continue while the schools remain under the civic body’s ownership and identity." Stressing that providing free education to children of “original Mumbaikars” is the BMC’s responsibility, he questioned the haste in implementing the PPP policy and demanded a probe into the allotment of five school plots, alleging possible collusion and seeking strict legal action against those responsible.