E-Paper
BJP corporators in Thane refuse to contribute for Covid hospital
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Shiv Sena are at loggerheads in Thane over giving ₹5 lakh from the corporator’s funds to set up a 1,000-bed facility for
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Shiv Sena are at loggerheads in Thane over giving ₹5 lakh from the corporator’s funds to set up a 1,000-bed facility for Covid patients.
BJP corporators in Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) have refused to give money, claiming there is no transparency in the project.
The Sena said the work will not suffer even if the BJP corporators do not contribute.
After Thane’s guardian minister Eknath Shinde announced setting up the facility at Global Impact hub building, mayor Naresh Mhaske said the corporators will pay ₹5 lakh each for the hospital.
BJP corporator Sanjay Waghule said, “We were not showed any plan of the hospital nor given any estimate of funds. We had already given money to the CM’s Relief Fund. The mayor decided on his own that all corporators will pay ₹5 lakh. We were not called for the meeting to decide this.”
Waghule said they suggested TMC uses the ₹150 crore allotted for Aapla Dawakhana (Moholla clinic) project. “Why is the Sena reluctant to use this fund?” he said.
The Sena refuted the claim that there was any foul play in the project.
Mhaske said, “We all decided in the common corporators group to contribute for the hospital. If the BJP does not want to contribute, it is their choice. They do not have to politicise the issue.”
He said the hospital is an emergency project and there is no time for tenders. “We will have to float an emergency tender for the hospital. Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s corporators had given funds in Mumbai and we decided to do the same,” said Mhaske.
