Mumbai, Jan. 24 -- The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will procure 48 cars on lease for five years, including 14 cars for elected representatives such as the incoming mayor, deputy mayor and chairpersons of various committees, said deputy municipal commissioner Kiran Dighavkar, who heads the civic body's transport department. The 48 vehicles will be procured on lease at a cost of Rs.12 crore for five years - the average monthly rental being Rs.42,000 per vehicle. The mayor and deputy mayor will get hybrid Toyota Innovas, while chairpersons of various committees, the leader of the house, the leader of opposition and BMC officials will get Mahindra Scorpios. The vehicles will arrive in 8-10 days, before the mayor and other chairpersons take oath, Dighavkar said. "It would be embarrassing for the BMC if the mayor and other top officials do not have good vehicles to move around," he said, accounting for the haste in procuring the new vehicles. The decision to procure new vehicles was taken as the vehicles used by the earlier mayor and chairpersons of various standing committees were bought in 2017 and have been handed over for use to other BMC officials, he said. "We are now trying out a new lease revenue model, wherein the BMC will spend only on drivers and fuel, while the agency which leases out the vehicles will take care of their maintenance," Dighavkar said. The vehicles will be handed back to the agency after five years, by which time they start developing maintenance issues, he added. The BMC's earlier standing committee had proposed to buy 23 cars for the mayor and chairpersons of all committees in 2020 at a cost of Rs.3 crore. Subsequently, as per the electric vehicle policy promoted by then environment minister Aaditya Thackeray, an electric Tata Nexon was procured on lease for the mayor in 2021. The BMC had withdrawn the official vehicles of the mayor and other chairpersons four years ago, when their terms expired. Their cars (mostly Scorpios) were handed over to other BMC officials for use. Former mayor and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Kishori Pednekar said that ideally, the BMC administration should have waited for new elected representatives to decide on such purchases. A few chairpersons had been allotted leased vehicles earlier, she said, though leased vehicles had never been given to mayors. Civic activist Zoru Bhathena said taking new vehicles on lease was popular with corporates as it spared them the hassle of maintaining the vehicles. "From the BMC's point of view, purchasing 48 vehicles may have been cheaper. New vehicles also require little maintenance in the first three years. But leasing vehicles at Rs.42,000 per month is not such a bad deal either," Bathena said....