Getting the reimbursement of ₹3,905 crore spent on fighting Covid will be a distant dream for the BMC due to the pending enquiry of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG). The civic body has claimed the whopping amount from the state government for the Covid expenses incurred between March 2020 and June 30, 2022.
Covid Balance Sheet
The BMC had spent ₹2,764 crore from March 2020 till September 2021, and around ₹1,136 crore till 2022. Of the total amount, around ₹1,941.94 crore was spent for Mumbai city, while ₹1958.11 crore was expended on suburbs. “We have already sent our claims for reimbursement to the state government. Some amount was recovered during the first Covid wave but we haven't received any reimbursement after that. The pending claim is of ₹3,905 crore,” confirmed a senior civic official.
Covid expenses in Mumbai
The expenses were incurred on buying medical equipment and medicines like Remdesivir, setting up jumbo Covid centres, recruiting nurses and doctors at a short notice, etc. However, several Covid-related purchases by the BMC have faced allegations of corruption and irregularities. The BJP had also demanded a white paper on the civic body' spending on combating the pandemic. However, the civic body had argued that it can't audit or probe the pandemic-related expenditure, given the protection of the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897, and Disaster Management Act, 2005.
The CAG had conducted a probe into the BMC projects, worth Rs12,000 crore, carried out between November 28, 2019, and February 28, 2022. The CAG report submitted in March, pointed out the lack of transparency and planning on part of the BMC, while shelling out money for Covid. It had also raised concerns about not sharing Covid management expenditure records.
BJP leader Vinod Mishra said, “If the BMC's work is transparent, they should have undergone an inquiry. The audit report would have cleared all the doubts. These expenses should be recovered from the party (Uddhav Sena) which ruled the BMC back then.” Civic chief Iqbal Singh Chahal was not available for comment.
