Mumbai: The Comptroller and Auditor General of India has rapped the previous BJP-led government and its various undertakings for procedural lapses, flaws in tendering process and for extending a helping hand to contractors while compromising the state's interest in the development of Navi Mumbai airport project and the Mumbai Metro.
The report was tabled in the State cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday evening. The copies of the report were distributed to the ministers but were later collected since they are confidential.
The Navi Mumbai international project is running behind schedule and involves an investment of Rs 16,000 crore. It is being developed by the Mumbai International Airport Ltd while the State-run City and Industrial Development Corporation is the nodal agency.
The first phase with handling of 10 million passengers was to be commissioned in December 2019 and later rescheduled to May 2020. Now, it will be further delayed.
As far as the Mumbai Metro is concerned, the BJP government had proposed that the network be enhanced to more than 300 km from the existing 11.4 km.
The project is being implemented by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority and the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation.
An MVA minister told the FPJ, "CAG has castigated the previous BJP-led government and government undertakings for irregularities and major procedural lapses in awarding contracts.
In some contracts awarded in the case of Navi Mumbai airport, CAG found that global tenders were not called; neither was it publicised. In the case of demolition of a hillock, which was situated right in the middle of the aeronautical zone, the CAG has noticed some financial errors."
Further, the CAG has also expressed displeasure over the government's haste in awarding some contracts for Mumbai Metro project which will benefit the contractors.
The minister informed FPJ that the CAG report, after the cabinet discussion, has been forwarded to the state Governor; after his nod it will be tabled in the legislature during the ongoing budget session.
The MVA constituents – the Shiv Sena, the NCP and the Congress -- plan to corner the BJP on CAG's scathing report. T
he findings will come handy in checkmating the BJP which has been setting deadlines for the collapse of the state government. The MVA government also plans to expose various other scams and irregularities during the BJP government.
