Mira-Bhayandar: A political controversy has erupted over the Mira-Bhayandar Municipal Corporation’s proposal to raise a loan from a private bank to pay contractors for cement-concrete road works. Shiv Sena leader and Transport Minister Pratap Sarnaik has alleged that the loan proposal involves mortgaging municipal properties to a private bank for as long as 30 years.
The Mira-Bhayandar Municipal Corporation has undertaken cement-concrete road projects to address the persistent pothole problem across the city. Since the civic body is facing a shortage of funds for the projects, a proposal to raise a loan from a private bank has been put forward.
Although the state government has reportedly given in-principle approval for the loan, the BJP has alleged that the Urban Development Department is delaying permission for the actual borrowing. BJP MLA Narendra Mehta has announced a road blockade protest at Fountain Hotel on August 10, alleging that the Urban Development Department is deliberately withholding the approval.
Sarnaik, however, has rejected the allegations. He claimed that the proposal involves taking a loan by mortgaging municipal properties to a private bank for 30 years to pay the bills for the cement-concrete road works.
According to Sarnaik, the Urban Development Department has not immediately approved the proposal because mortgaging municipal properties for such a long period is not appropriate.
Sarnaik further said that he has opposed mortgaging municipal properties and instead taken the position that funds for the cement-concrete road projects should be provided by the state government. He also claimed that he had secured approval to obtain government funding for completing the road works.
Sarnaik has also made a serious allegation regarding contractors who have completed the cement-concrete road works but are awaiting payment.
He alleged that contractors were being lured with promises of getting their pending bills cleared and that a person named “Kothari” was allegedly demanding a 23% commission for facilitating the payments.
Sarnaik said he was therefore opposed to raising a loan through such a proposal and insisted that municipal assets should not be mortgaged for decades to finance the road works.
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