Maha: Aaditya seeks answers from BMC on street furniture ‘scam’ of Rs 263 crore

Mumbai: Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Aaditya Thackeray has written a letter to Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) commissioner and administrator Iqbal Singh Chahal, seeking answers from him over the Rs 263 crore worth “possible scam” in buying street furniture.

In his letter written on April 26, which Thackeray tweeted on Sunday, he sought access to the report of the three-member fact-finding committee formed after the allegations were made and also to the reports of quality tests of all the bidders conducted by the Veer Jijamata Technological University.

He also alleged that the “entire process seems to be rigged in favour of a particular contractor friend of the BMC”.

“In the past few months, many irregularities in processes and financial transactions have come to light from the BMC…I would like to seek further clarity on the street furniture mess that the BMC has created in my city, more so the hard-earned money of my city, to benefit one contractor friend of the BMC and those in government,” the Worli MLA said targeting the Eknath Shinde-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) dispensation.

“…One contractor has bagged the Rs 263 crore tender for street furniture. Many questions asked by me as a Mumbaikar have remained unanswered by the BMC,” he said.

Last month, Thackeray alleged a Rs 263 crore worth of “scam” in the Mumbai civic body’s plan to buy street furniture, including benches.

The civic body is set to buy thousands of street benches (almost 40,000) and planters (containers in which plants are grown) as part of the project, said Thackeray and asked where will the BMC install all these items.

The Shiv Sena (UBT) leader said these products should be purchased on need basis by civic wards and not centrally through one tender.

“I have written about another possible scam in the making to the @mybmc administrator, seeking clarity on it. His conspicuous silence and inability to answer any of these questions posed by a Mumbaikar only increases the confirmation that this too, like roads, is a scam,” Thackeray said in his tweet posted on Sunday.

“A similar letter was written by a ruling party MLA also, but I believe he hasn’t got any response to it. Wonder why the state BJP supports the corrupt mindhe regime,” he added.

The Shiv Sena (UBT) refers the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena as “Mindhe group” to mock it.