Mumbai: CAG initiates probe in BMC contracts worth Rs 12,000 Cr during pandemic

Days after the Chief Minister Mr Eknath Shinde’s announcement, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has launched the audit/probe into the Rs 12,000 crore contracts awarded by Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) during the coronavirus pandemic.

About 10 officers from the CAG on Tuesday visited the BMC headquarters and reportedly demanded the documents pertaining to various transactions of various departments. 

The nearing BMC election and the audit

CAG probe was ordered by the Shinde-Fadnavis government based on the demand made by the BJP suspecting corruption and huge scam in the Rs 12,000 crore contracts awarded during the pandemic. This was an attempt to checkmate the Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray in the run up to the BMC elections. 

Transactions made by at least 10 Departments of the BMC are expected to be probed and the CAG will conduct an audit for the same. 

A senior BMC officer said that the CAG team held a meeting with the Municipal Commissioner Mr Iqbal Singh Chahal, who is the administrator after the tenure of the general body expired early this year. Thereafter, CAG team visited the accounts department and sought details with regard to various transactions. Some of those documents were taken by the CAG team for conducting an inquiry and audit. 

As per the CM’s announcement made on October 31, the transactions between November 28, 2020 and February 28, 2022 will be probed by the CAG. The BJP was constantly alleging that there was malpractice in the transactions. The Deputy Chief Minister Mr Devendra Fadnavis in the monsoon had announced the CAG probe into the transactions that took place during the pandemic. Mr Shinde asserted that the government’s move to order a CAG probe was not done with political vengeance. He had assured that it would be done in a fair and transparent manner. 

What are the transactions of the BMC that are under the radar?

> Rs3538.73 crore spent on various matters during the Corona period

>Purchase of plot of Ajmera at Dahisar for Rs 339.14 crore 

> Rs 1496 crore spent on construction of four bridges, Rs 904.84 crore spend on procurement of medicines and other material in three hospitals during Corona period

> Expenditure of Rs 2286.24 crore on repair of 56 roads in the city

> Rs 1084.61 crore spent on six sewage projects

> Rs 1020.48 crore expenditure on solid waste management projects

> Expenditure of Rs 1187.36 crore for three sewage treatment plants