Mumbai: Mayor Ritu Tawde met chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday night amid the recent controversy surrounding her office. One of her key demands highlighted at the meeting was to seek a change in the civic public relations officer (PRO).The demand comes days after Tawde criticised the BMC public relations department chief over a Rs 25 lakh social media tender for engaging personnel for the mayor’s office. The proposal had followed a letter written by Tawde in Feb seeking strengthening of the mayor’s social media outreach. Following Tawde’s meeting with Fadnavis, the issue was discussed with BMC commissioner Ashwini Bhide on Thursday morning.Sources said it was decided that instead of replacing the PRO, an assistant municipal commissioner will be given charge of the public relations department. “The mayor met the CM around 8 pm on Thursday, and several issues were discussed. The meeting with the CM also comes barely a few days after the BJP on Aug 24 had a meeting with all of its corporators and later with the party functionaries such as mayor Tawde, standing committee chairperson Prabhakar Shinde, leader of the House Ganesh Khankar and education committee chairperson Rajashree Shirwadkar,” said a source privy to the developments.Meanwhile, the Rs 25 lakh social media proposal was once again not taken up at Thursday’s standing committee meeting. The BJP-led committee’s decision to keep the proposal pending has raised questions within civic circles, particularly since the proposal relates to the office of the party’s own mayor.Standing committee chairperson Prabhakar Shinde, who read the proposal at the meeting, mentioned it as ‘not taken ’, owing to which no discussion was held in the matter during the meeting.The proposal moved by the public relations department, is for extending the social media handling services of the mayor’s office for one year, from Aug 1, 2026 to July 31, 2027. The work has been awarded to Runtime Solutions Pvt Ltd. The document states that no tender process was implemented for the contract.The proposal was first placed before the standing committee on Aug 20 but was declared “not taken” amid the likelihood of opposition members raising objections. It was brought before the committee again on Thursday, Aug 27, only to be rejected from consideration once more.Since taking charge as mayor, Tawde has undertaken several inspection visits and directed officials to take action against illegal hawkers, including those allegedly from Bangladesh and Rohingya communities. However, controversies over the expenditure on repairs to the mayor’s bungalow premises, the use of flashing lights on the mayor’s vehicle and the Rs 25-lakh social media proposal put her under opposition scrutiny.
