You are here: Home > News >

 

Newly elected civic corporator Anahita Rusi Mehta (right) with her party co-worker 90-year-old Prabhavati and her brother Noshirvan at Falkland Road

That her father Rusi Mehta was a casualty of political rivalry does not faze Anahita Mehtas enthusiasm for her new job.

As the newly elected corporator for Constituency 20 in central Mumbai, Mehta is in familiar territory. Her family has represented this constituency in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for nearly 35 years.

Her brother, Noshir, represented the area from 1988 to 2002. Her father was first elected from the constituency in 1968 and represented it till his murder in 1988.

He was killed on my 18th birthday. He had to pay dearly for working as a corporator. But all that is part of life. Work has to go on, says Mehta, who adds that she had initially not warmed to the idea of contesting in the civic elections when offered the candidacy that her father and brother represented.

This year, the constituency was reserved for a woman corporator and considering her familys popularity in the area, Mehta was the first choice of the local Congress party workers.

I was not prepared for the immense responsibility that came with the job. But the people here just asked me to continue with my fathers work, says the 32-year-old biochemistry graduate from Sophia College, Peddar Road.

So Mehta decided to take the plunge.

She won with a large margin, getting 8,370 votes as opposed to the Bharatiya Janata Party candidate, who got only 1,686 votes. She is now looking forward to her first visit to BMC headquarters.

Mehta runs a flourmill. But as a corporator she faces a tough task. The area she represents is presently an example of urban decay.

Spread over Foras Road, Shuklaji Street and parts of Bellasis Road, her constituency includes rundown motor workshops, small industrial units, red-light areas and dilapidated buildings.

Encroached footpaths, dug-up roads and the overwhelming stench of sewage does not indicate that the area has seen serious development work in the past three decades. However, the Mehtas are not blamed for this.

When we learnt this constituency was reserved for women candidates, we wanted a member from the same family to contest. Thats why we chose her, says a local resident Haji Mohamad Yasin, explaining why he voted for Mehta.

Her brother says he has been consistently using his corporator funds to augment water supply and sewage in the area.

Cleanliness is the biggest problem in the area. The old-fashioned drainage system does not suffice the growing number of residents. A new system will hopefully solve the drainage problem, says Mehta.