Aaditya Thackeray, the leader of the Shiv Sena (UBT), retaliated against the Maharashtra government on Saturday in response to the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) report that criticised the functioning and financial management of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and demanded similar audits of the civic bodies in Thane, Kalyan-Dombivali, Nashik, and Nagpur. People are aware of the job done by the (undivided) Shiv Sena via the municipal body, according to Thackeray, whose party ruled the BMC for 25 years. “The government may investigate. The municipal commissioner who listens to whom? Who was the minister of urban development? We are happy about this since Mumbaikars are aware of our efforts “added he.
“But, comparable audits must be conducted in the municipal corporations of Thane, Kalyan-Dombivali, Nashik, and Nagpur. The government should be open if they have the courage to do so “And Thackeray. Thackeray’s criticism of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, who indirectly controlled Thane, Kalyan, and Dombivali municipal bodies, was directed at Nagpur civic body, which was under Bharat Janata Party control. A CAG assessment on the operation of Mumbai’s municipal authority drew attention to the lack of planning and openness, the irresponsible use of cash, and the failure to provide COVID-19 management expense information.
Devendra Fadnavis, the deputy chief minister of Maharashtra, presented the CAG report to the legislature on Saturday. It examined the Rs 12,023.88 crore in expenditures that nine BMC departments made between November 28, 2019, and October 31, 2022. A number of works were chosen without open competition or selecting qualified contractors, including one influent pumping station example where, according to the study, malice cannot be ruled out. Sunil Prabhu, the head of the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), urged that the CAG investigate all municipal organisations. Prabhu said that the Shiv Sena’s 25-year stranglehold over the BMC was the only reason why Uddhav Thackeray was the target of this report’s smear campaign.
Speaking earlier in the day in the Assembly, Deputy CM Fadnavis said that the CAG report investigation was only limited to Rs 12,000 crore and that additional anomalies would have been discovered if the full operation of the BMC had been taken into consideration. Further stated by Fadnavis was that the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the Legislature would get the special audit report and that appropriate action would be taken if any evidence of corruption were discovered. Civic elections are scheduled for early 2022 in a number of cities, including Mumbai, Thane, Nagpur, and Pune. The coronavirus outbreak at the time prevented polls from being conducted.
