Mumbai: The president of BJP’s Mumbai unit, MLA Ashish Shelar has demanded the constitution of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the Rs12,000 crore corruption in the BMC, which has been exposed,

He told media persons on Tuesday that it is necessary to find out the mastermind behind this huge corruption, which involved a lot of kickbacks. 

Shelar to Shinde: Corruption pertains to 76 works undertaken by nine BMC departments

Shelar has written a letter to Chief Minister Eknath Shinde in this regard. He said the corruption pertained to 76 works undertaken by nine BMC departments and alleged that it took place when the Shiv Sena led by Uddhav and Aaditya Thackeray was in power. 

The CAG report was  from Nov 28, 2019 to Oct 31, 2022 and it does not include the works undertaken during the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Shelar said there is a ‘yellow book’ with the BMC and a national construction code that tells how roads are supposed to be built. However, in brazen violation of all these rules, contracts were awarded without even floating tenders and that too in excess of the amount mentioned in tender documents. There have been cases of manipulation of tenders and breach of norms, he said, adding that perhaps no other governing body in the country has indulged in a scam of this scale. 

“There have been instances where tenders have been awarded to four companies but actually it is only one. In some other cases, tenders have been awarded to those who were not even qualified. Why were these contractors favoured?” he asked, adding that the CAG report exposed “lack of transparency, negligence, sloppy planning and misappropriation of funds”.

According to the Development Plan of 1993, over 32,394.90 sqm of land in Dahisar was reserved for a garden/ playground/ maternity home. Later, in Dec 2011, a decision for acquisition was made. Its final land acquisition valuation was Rs349.14 crore. Using the formula, the property was valued at Rs206.16 crore, which was 716% more than 2011, Shelar said. He alleged that land price valued at Rs130 crore was hiked to Rs349 crore. “It did not stop here. To allow development, the BMC spent another Rs77.80 crore to remove the encroachments. This means that it spent Rs420 crore on land worth Rs130 crore,” he claimed. 

While working as a corporator in the BMC during 2007, Shelar had exposed the scam in the SAP system. At that time, he had protested in front of the offices of the then municipal commissioner and the then Mayor and had demanded an investigation.

The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) allies Nationalist Congress Party and Shiv Sena (UBT) have forecast the possibility of President’s rule being imposed in Maharashtra after the upcoming Supreme Court verdict on the disqualification of 16 MLAs, here on Wednesday.

State NCP President Jayant Patil said that after the apex court judgement, the government of Shiv Sena Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Bharatiya Janata Party Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis is most likely to collapse.

“However, there may not be a midterm election as anticipated in some quarters, but instead, Central rule would be imposed after the SC verdict,” asserted Patil, addressing a meeting of party workers in Jalgaon late on Tuesday.

He claimed that the Shinde-Fadnavis government is “scared” of holding mid-term elections and is devising methods on how to postpone all elections due, including local bodies, and Market Committees also, as much as possible.

Endorsing the NCP leader’s stance, Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut said here this morning (March 29) that he is in full agreement with Patil’s assessment of the situation.

“It is very obvious that the SC verdict will ensure the disqualification of 16 MLAs, including Shinde… So, the state government will fall and there will be no other option left. Hence the likelihood of the President’s rule cannot be ruled out,” declared Raut.

The Sena (UBT) leader said that his party had absolutely no doubts that Shinde and the other MLAs would be disqualified, “provided everything goes as per the law”.

The third MVA ally, Congress has not commented on the latest developments, though its top leaders have said several times in the past that the Shinde government will topple after the SC judgement.

Nevertheless, the three parties are optimistic that the apex court outcome could prove to be a turning point for the state politics nine months after the MVA headed by former CM Uddhav Thackeray was ousted following a Shinde-led rebellion in June 2022.

The illegal dredging of sand from the Vaitarna river is endangering the safety of the rail bridge connecting the Vaitarna and Safale stations in Maharashtra’s Palghar district, police said on Wednesday.

For illegal sand mining, a criminal offence was recently registered against two people at Mandvi police station under Section 151 of the Railways Act (Damage to or destruction of certain railway properties), various sections of the Indian Penal Code, and the Environment Protection Act.

Illegal dredging of sand has made the railway bridge over the Vaitarna river unsafe

“During the inspection of the bridge on Monday, police found a suction pump was pulling out sand from the Vaitarna river. The pump was found mounted on a boat in the vicinity. The sand was being collected and heaped at the site,” he said. Police destroyed the suction pump and the boat.

“The act of illegal dredging of sand has made the railway bridge over the Vaitarna river unsafe and also disturbed the environment,” the FIR stated.