Marking World Environment Day on June 5, the BMC released its Mumbai Climate Action Plan (MCAP) on Thursday, with a total FY 2025-26 budget of Rs 17,066.12 crore. The ambitious MCAP will be implemented by the BMC’s Environment and Climate Change (E & CC) Department; however, questions are raised about its implementation as the department is severely short-staffed. Out of the total 41 positions in the E & CC department, only positions are filled. The department also lacks a full-fledged office, which was planned to come up in Worli.

“The dire state of the environment department itself shows the seriousness with which BMC wants to implement its climate action plan. It's just a show-off that the civic body is taking steps towards the environment and climate change as per national and international guidelines, but in reality, nothing is happening,” environment activist Zoru Bhathena said.

“The department is currently running with the Chief Engineer and four assistant engineers. The work is been managed with admin staff and employees who also have additional duties. The hiring of the engineers has been in process since last year, but has been delayed due to reservations. We are trying the fill the positions, as E & CC is a crucial department. There is no doubt that existing staff are overloaded,” said a senior BMC officer.

While sources from the BMC added that the existing assistant engineers in the BMC show less interest in joining the E & CC department and prefer working in departments like roads, bridges, building & proposals, etc. Interestingly, the department has seen as many as 15 Deputy Municipal Commissioners since November 2017, with many of them holding additional charge.

The Environment department of the BMC was upgraded to Environment and Climate Change in March 2024 and 41 new positions were created, including a Chief Engineer, two Deputy Chief Engineers, one Deputy Municipal Architect, two Senior Architects, and 35 Sub Engineers.

Environment activist Debi Goenka said, “The Mumbai Climate budget is nothing but a display to attract funds from the centre, state and other authorities. Even the FY 25-26 budget includes funds from BEST budget. The BMC says it will create acres of green cover and on the other hand chops trees in thousands.”

Bhathena added that instead of allocating Rs 17,000 crore for taking action, the BMC should rather focus on reducing the destruction.

The BMC’s Climate budget for FY 25-26 released on Thursday, includes capital expenditures by BMC of Rs 16,321.33 crore and Rs 744.99 crore by BEST, and Rs 3,268.97 crore for revenue expenditure. The Climate Budget for Mumbai sees a Rs 7,000 crore hike from last year.

BMC says that it has achieved 86% of its progress on its FY 24-26 Climate Budget, with 739 climate-linked budget activities undertaken last year.