A walk to remember inside iconic BMC building

MUMBAI: Did you know that the area around the plot where the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) headquarters stands today at Fort has a connection to 1857 First War of Independence? Were you aware that the mayor’s office was built three decades after the BMC building was constructed in 1893? BMC’s heritage tour will help you discover more such interesting trivia about the city.

BMC, in a joint venture between the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC), on Saturday commenced heritage walks for citizens at 4.30pm with 15 people through its headquarters. The hour-and-half heritage walk will be organised every weekend at BMC headquarters. This is the first time that BMC has opened its doors for tourists.

Khaki Tours is curating the heritage walks. Bharat Gothoskar from Khakhi Tours, said, “Mumbai as a city starts from a small house built in 1500s. So during the tour, we refer to stories of the city spanning over five centuries, but throw more light on the city’s history from the British era.”

Each tour will commence at the selfie point outside the main porch of BMC building, where the guides tell stories about the significance of Pherozeshah Mehta’s statue outside the building porch, and the statue of Bombay – the angel atop the porch named Urbs Prima in Indis (First City of India).

The tour will shed light on how the present-day mayor’s office was not part of the original building plans. Mayors used to work from their private chambers.

When Vitthal Bhai Patel — the older brother of Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel — became the president of the corporation in 1924 (the post was then equivalent to that of the mayor), he demanded that he be given an office at the headquarters, as a representative of the citizens. The mayor’s chambers were added to the building in 1924.

Tickets for the tour can be bookmyshow.com for ₹300.

PHOTOS: ANSHUMAN POYREKAR/HT