India, Dec. 28 -- A comprehensive citywide survey has found that a majority of Mumbaikars do not know how the BMC, the country's richest municipal body, functions, with 72% unaware of its annual budget and 35% unsure how to contact it. Interestingly, the lack of awareness on some counts was across wards, with 83% of citizens in plush Bandra West and 87% in the Dharavi slum being equally ignorant on the civic budget and over 89% and 93% respectively unaware of the Local Area Development Funds allotted to corporators.

The Mumbai Speaks survey, conducted by the Mumbai Citizens Forum (MCF) with the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), covered all 227 civic wards and gathered responses from 5,450 residents between January and August 2023...