Demanding in-person meetings of all statutory and special committees of the civic corporation, BJP corporators staged a protest outside the mayor's office at BMC headquarters on Wednesday. They also demanded that fully vaccinated journalists be allowed to enter the meeting venues. Carrying placards and shouting slogans, the masked up corporators said it was high time to move from online meeting to offline mode with adherence to protocols since Covid cases in Mumbai have reduced significantly and fully vaccinated citizens have been given local train access.

The protesters also sought to draw the attention of the BMC to the fact that the state and Centre have been giving permission for various events and that many meetings and inauguration ceremonies are being held. “It is very unfortunate that the statutory committee meetings and special meetings of the corporation are still being held through video-conferencing. In video-conferencing, it is not possible to hear exactly what the member said and an echo can be heard. Corporators cannot raise issues in their wards,” said Prabhakar Shinde, BJP group leader at BMC. He added, “Journalists were allowed in various statutory committee meetings of the BMC, before the pandemic. However, they are not allowed anymore and this could lead to hiding a lot of facts and incidents that take place in the meetings. To ensure transparency, journalists should also be allowed in these meetings.”