The BMC commissioner Dr Iqbal Singh Chahal on Sunday refuted corruption allegations levelled by the Shivsena leader Aditya Thackeray. In a press briefing, Chahal addressed several issues and provided updates on various projects undertaken by the civic body aimed to clarify misconceptions and provide factual information to the public.
He said that all the projects are being undertaken as per the administrative procedure and standard procedure laid by the state government.
In March 2020, when Chahal took over the charge, a total fixed deposit (FD) was ₹79.115 crore, which later increased to ₹91,690 crore till March 2022 and it again reduced to ₹86,467 crore in March 2023.
BMC has cleared its long pending dues, claims Chahal
“The civic body has paid ₹2050 crore to Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC), which was not returned in the last five years. It has also paid ₹2567 to the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply & Transport Undertaking (BEST) authority to pay gratuity and pension to its employees. Out of this expenditure, the FD amount has not been used for any other purpose,” Chahal said.
The civic chief said that the financial position has become strong during his tenure. Chahal while speaking about road concretization said after the Shinde Fadnavis government came into existence, the decision of 400km of road construction was taken up.
Chahal: No favour to contractors
Denying any favour to contractors, he claimed that when tenders were invited, no bidder was interested citing the old price schedule followed by the BMC and later tenders for ₹6080 crore were floated. Chahal also backed the project under which sanitary napkin vending machines will be installed in five thousand toilets in Mumbai.
“Many public representatives, non-governmental organizations and scholars had demanded such machines in all the toilets across city. The contractor will have to operate and maintain it for the next three years. The allegations of exorbitant prices of the machine are also baseless,” Chahal said, adding the contractor was appointed while following the proper schedule.
“Under the street furniture project, there are 1,717 benches and 10,700 saplings, the total cost of street furniture was ₹222 crore and it would be spent in the next three years. However, this year only ₹22 crore was spent,” the civic chief added.
