Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray on Saturday demanded an enquiry by Mumbai police’s Economic Offences Wing into alleged irregularities in the contracts awarded by Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation for the construction of roads during the previous Eknath Shinde government.
Addressing a news conference, Thackeray demanded that Shinde as well as Deepak Kesarkar and Mangal Prabhat Lodha, who were the guardian ministers of Mumbai city and Mumbai suburbs, respectively, be kept out of the new government as the road contracts were awarded during their tenure as ministers. Shinde is currently deputy chief minister in the Devendra Fadnavis government that was sworn in on December 5 following the Mahayuti’s landslide victory in the November 20 assembly polls.
Thackeray alleged there was cartelisation of contracts when Shinde was CM and handled the Urban Development portfolio. "The BJP has now demanded a SIT probe into the contracts awarded for the construction of roads. We demand an EOW probe into this," Thackeray said.
The BMC was controlled by the undivided Shiv Sena from 1997 to 2022. However, civic polls are due since early 2022, and the BMC is presently under a state-government appointed administrator.
Referring to a news report, Thackeray claimed the BMC plans to levy a user fee per flat for waste collection, which he asserted was an attempt to "loot Mumbai." "This service (of picking up garbage) was free when we were in power (in the BMC). The civic body has an obligation to provide this as a free service. This is an attempt to loot Mumbai through a user fee," Thackeray claimed.
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