Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) was mired in corruption from November 2019 to October 2022, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Saturday as he tabled a CAG report in the Assembly.
The report looked at the award of contracts for projects worth โน12,000 crore when the Covid-19 pandemic was at its peak, said many contracts were awarded without calling for tenders.
๐ก๐ผ๐ ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐น๐น ๐ฎ๐๐ฑ๐ถ๐, ๐ฏ๐๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ธ๐ ๐ผ๐ณ โน๐ญ๐ฎ,๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฒ
โOn October 31, 2022, we had declared a special CAG audit. Accordingly, CAG had conducted audits of nine departments. It is not an overall audit of BMC but that of works of Rs12,000 crore,โ Fadnavis said.
As many as 20 projects worth Rs214 crore of two BMC departments had been undertaken without inviting tenders, Fadnavis said. BMC also did not formalise contracts with 64 contractors for projects worth Rs4,755 crore and thus cannot take action against them, he said. Besides, no third party audit has been done with regard to 13 projects worth โน3,355 crore and, therefore, there is no mechanism to see how these works had been awarded, he said.
There is lack of transparency and poor planning, and the BMC has also not been careful in disbursing funds, the CAG said in its report.
๐๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ป๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ ๐ต๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐น๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐๐ ๐น๐ผ๐๐ ๐ถ๐ป ๐๐ฎ๐ต๐ถ๐๐ฎ๐ฟ ๐น๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ, ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ ๐๐ผ ๐ฆ๐๐ฃ, ๐๐ ๐ ๐ณ๐น๐ผ๐๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ฒ๐ป๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ฟ๐๐น๐ฒ๐
Fadnavis also said that 32,294 sq m of land in Dahisar was to be used for a playground, maternity home and garden purpose at Dahisar. According to the 1993 DP the plot was shown reserved. BMC in December 2011, had passed a resolution to acquire the said land. Eventually, valuation of the said land was fixed โน349 cr. and the valuation was 716 percent more than the actual valuation. The said land is encroached Therefore โน80 cr. will have to be spent on rehabilitation. CAG said BMC has not got any benefit from this project.
A contract of โน159 crore was given to SAP without inviting tender, Fadnavis pointed out, adding that โน37 crore was given to SAP for yearly maintenance which was not done. BMC also did not take any action at that time, he said.
The chief minister also said that with regard to the construction of two bridges over the Mahalaxmi Railway station, BMC had allowed contractors to benefit by as much as โน27 crore and gave โน14 crore more to contractors by flouting tender conditions. About 50 per cent of the work of these two bridges should have been finished before 2022 but only 10 per cent has been done till now, the CAG report said.
๐ก๐ผ ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐บ๐ถ๐๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐ถ๐ป ๐ง๐๐ถ๐ป ๐๐๐ป๐ป๐ฒ๐น ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ท๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ ๐ผ๐ป ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ธ ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ฎ๐ฑ
The auditor also noticed that the civic body had not taken permission from the authorities of the Sanjay Gandhi National Park for the construction of twin tunnels on the Goregaon Mulund Link Road and the cost of construction rose from Rs4,500 crore to Rs6,322 crore.
The CAG also highlighted irregularities about KEM hospital, desilting work of Mithi river, the Malad pumping station and contracts of the solid waste management department.
๐๐๐ฃ ๐๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ผ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐จ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ฆ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฎ
โThis was a trailer of Rs12,000 crore. If we had conducted a CAG audit of the entire expenditure more facts would come out,โ Fadnavis said.
BJP MLA Amit Satam demanded the immediate registration of an FIR in this regard against he people concerned, but Fadnavis said action against the accused would be taken after the CAG report submitted in the Vidhan Sabha.
๐๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ถ๐๐๐ฎ ๐ง๐ต๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ ๐ต๐ถ๐๐ ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ธ
โThis government should have conducted CAG audits of other municipal corporations, too. We and the people of Mumbai know what work we had done. That is why we had won the BMC election in the last 25 years. I welcome the CAG report. The government should take action,โ Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray said, adding that the state government should conduct a CAG inquiry in Thane, Navi Mumbai, Nagpur, and Pune municipality and added that โCMโ stands for โcorrupt manโ.
