Mumbai: Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis’s intervention, following strong opposition from the Shiv Sena (UBT), forced the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC’s) improvement committee on Wednesday to send four proposals back to the civic administration for reconsideration, including the privatisation-linked revival of SevenHills Hospital in Marol.
The development is expected to deepen the simmering tensions between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, which heads the improvement committee, as Fadnavis reportedly acted on demands raised by the Shiv Sena faction led by Uddhav Thackeray.
According to officials familiar with the developments, Fadnavis intervened after Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Aaditya Thackeray strongly opposed the four proposals during a press conference on Tuesday, alleging they were against Mumbai’s interests and aimed at facilitating land grabbing in the city.
The proposals included the privatisation of SevenHills Hospital, the commercialisation of blood banks in five civic hospitals, an exhibition centre project at Bandra Reclamation, and a proposal to alter a green zone at Malabar Hill.
Following objections raised by Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders and requests for intervention, Fadnavis told his party leaders in the BMC to ensure the proposals were sent back to the administration for reconsideration, officials said.
During the improvement committee’s meeting on Wednesday, opposition corporators argued that handing over hospitals and blood banks to private players would weaken access to affordable healthcare for residents and set a precedent for outsourcing Mumbai’s other big civic hospitals.
One of the proposals involved a revised public-private partnership (PPP) resolution plan to revive the defunct 1,500-bed SevenHills Hospital. Following a corporate insolvency resolution process, the BMC had selected non-banking financial company Capri Global Holdings Pvt Ltd, in partnership with Reliance Industries, to revive and operate the facility, which shut down in 2018.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, the BMC had temporarily operated the hospital as one of Mumbai’s largest treatment facilities, a fact repeatedly invoked by opposition corporators to argue that the civic body has already proved it can manage the institution independently.
Leading the attack, Shiv Sena (UBT) corporator and former mayor Vishakha Raut warned that approving the proposal could trigger a gradual shift of Mumbai’s public healthcare infrastructure into private hands. “Have we already decided to hand over Mumbai to Ambani and Adani? Tell us clearly,” she said.
Raut said the BMC was fully capable of operating a hospital of SevenHills’ scale, citing its performance during the pandemic. “Lakhs of patients received treatment there. It is not true that BMC cannot run a hospital of this scale,” Raut said, questioning why a civic body with a healthcare budget of approximately ₹3,500 crore would hand over the facility for what she termed a modest financial return.
The former mayor warned that approving the proposal could set a precedent that would affect Mumbai’s major civic hospitals. “Today, it is SevenHills Hospital. Tomorrow, there will be proposals for Nair, KEM and Sion hospitals,” she said, urging corporators to think beyond immediate gains.
Highlighting overcrowding in civic hospitals, Raut said patients at institutions such as KEM already face severe shortages, with some forced to share beds or sleep on floors. “If we keep privatising healthcare, the day will come when three patients will have to share a single bed,” she said.
Congress leader Ashraf Azmi also opposed the proposal, arguing that Mumbai needed stronger public healthcare infrastructure rather than “further privatisation of essential services”. He called on the administration to formulate a plan to fully operate SevenHills Hospital under the BMC.
The opposition also objected to a proposal concerning BMC-run blood banks. Corporators alleged that while civic blood banks have historically been publicly operated and provided services free of cost, the new proposal would permit NGOs to run them and charge up to ₹1,100. “Why should this commercialisation of Mumbai’s blood be allowed?” said Raut.
Following heated deliberations and sustained opposition, the improvements committee chose not to clear either proposal, referring them back to the administration for reconsideration.
Reacting to the development, Aaditya Thackeray said, “I am happy that the proposals have been stalled, but they need to be scrapped. The BJP should ensure that the proposal for the conversion of recreational grounds to residential use and the privatisation of blood banks are scrapped. If it is done, I would publicly thank them.”
Shiv Sena (UBT) MLC Milind Narvekar said he had spoken to Fadnavis about the proposals. “After the CM was convinced that the proposals could lead to controversy, he stopped them from getting approved. We are thankful for it,” he said.
The BMC’s improvement committee chief and Shiv Sena leader Sandhya Doshi told reporters: “The proposal for the privatisation of SevenHills was as per the tribunal’s order after studying it thoroughly. The Mahayuti is trying to clean up the mess created by the previous rule [of the Thackeray-led Shiv Sena] for 40 years.”
