Aaditya Thackeray urges Maha CM to conduct probe into Mumbai road concretisation scam

Mumbai, March 23 (IANS) Former Maharashtra Minister and Shiv Sena-UBT leader Aaditya Thackeray, on Saturday, made a fresh demand with the Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to immediately hold an inquiry into irregularities in the concretisation of roads being carried out by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation through the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai Police against the concerned contractors, civic officials and those who are connected with this work.

Aaditya Thackeray in his post on X said, “For the past two years, road concretisation works have been going on in Mumbai, roads are closed, and dust is everywhere. But what is even more terrible is that this grand scam is going on to empty the coffers of Mumbaikars in the name of concrete construction. I have been raising my voice against this continuously. Today, once again, I wrote a letter to the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, demanding an immediate investigation into this scam and expressing the hope that strict action will be taken against those found guilty. We will not let the hard-earned money of Mumbaikars go to waste like this, we will not stop the ongoing destruction of Mumbai!”

The Shiv Sena-UBT leader’s demand comes a day after members of the ruling BJP and opposition parties in the Assembly on Friday cornered the Deputy Chief Minister and the State Urban Development Minister, Eknath Shinde, on the issue of concretisation of Mumbai roads.

They slammed the state government over alleged irregularities in the work of concretisation of Mumbai’s roads.

Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar ordered a meeting of Mumbai legislators on the allegations of irregularities in the tenders for concretisation of roads in Mumbai, issued by the previous government led by the then Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.

Eknath Shinde handled the Urban Development department portfolio in the previous MahaYuti government as well.

“A meeting will be held with the Urban Development Minister in this regard in my office on Monday at 3 p.m. An inquiry in the similar matter was conducted earlier through the EOW. Considering the current serious information, should the EOW conduct another investigation? They should think about this and come to the meeting,” Speaker Narwekar said.

Narwekar directed the state government to hold a meeting at his chamber on Monday noon and asked Deputy CM Ekanth Shinde to be present, calling all party legislators.

The Speaker also asked the state government to come prepared with a response on whether a probe by the EOW should be ordered in these tenders.

BJP legislator Atul Bhatkhalkar raised the issue of incomplete and poor quality works in concretisation of roads, pointing out that merely a fine was slapped and officials are only given a notice.

Another BJP legislator Ameet Satam argued that roads less than 15 metres wide be completed with mastic asphalt.

He said that despite spending Rs 21,000 crore on roads in Mumbai from 1997 to 2022, it has turned out to be a wasteful expenditure.

“As a solution, the then Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and the current Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis introduced the concept of cement concrete roads, which is a welcome move. However, due to the ongoing digging of roads, many senior citizens are staying at home and unable to go for walks. The entire city has been dug up, and the work on cement concrete roads, which started in October 2023, is still ongoing after a year-and-a-half,” said Satam, adding that roads wider than 15 metres can be made of cement concrete, but roads smaller than 15 metres are better suited for mastic asphalt.

Speaker Narwekar intervened, saying that tender was floated in his own constituency two years ago but the contractor did not perform the work, so the tender was re-tendered six months ago and the work has yet not begun.

Congress legislator Amit Deshmukh sought to know the names of road contractors who have been awarded works worth Rs 6,632 crore while Shiv Sena-UBT legislator Aaditya Thackeray questioned whether the contractors were provided advance mobility charge.

Maharashtra Minister and Shiv Sena leader, Uday Samant, said that issues raised by the legislators will be probed and in the first phase, 191 roads were under construction.

–IANS

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