Ajit Pawar alleges ₹500 crore scam in govt ads during Fadnavis’s tenure

Pawar sought a detailed probe and suspension of the officers with immediate effect. He said that the preliminary probe was conducted after Uddhav Thackeray led MVA government came to power in 2019. The report found blatant violations on part of eight officials including DG and the principal secretary

Mumbai: Opposition leader Ajit Pawar on Thursday alleged a scam worth over ₹500 crore in issuing advertisements of various welfare schemes of the state government in 2017 and 2018. He said that advertisements were given by the Directorate General of Information and Public Relations (DGIPR) without taking prior approval from the chief minister, who heads the department.

Pawar said that the chief secretary in his preliminary probe found the then director general (DG) DGIPR and then principal secretary, the social justice department guilty of irregularities as the approval from the chief minister was necessary for spending such a large amount of money on advertisements (Vijay Bate)

Devendra Fadnavis was the chief minister of the state at that time. Speaker Rahul Narvekar has directed the state government to take cognisance of the matter. State BJP, however, ridiculed the allegations saying the budget of the department was only ₹26 crore.

Pawar said that the chief secretary in his preliminary probe found the then director general (DG) DGIPR and then principal secretary, the social justice department guilty of irregularities as the approval from the chief minister was necessary for spending such a large amount of money on advertisements.

Pawar sought a detailed probe and suspension of the officers with immediate effect. He said that the preliminary probe was conducted after Uddhav Thackeray led MVA government came to power in 2019. The report found blatant violations on part of eight officials including DG and the principal secretary.

He also alleged that the chief minister Eknath Shinde is trying to protect the guilty officers. “By directing all the departments to take post facto approval from him, he is trying to shield the officers.”

Pawar also told the state assembly that the state finance department refused to clear the bills of the advertisements given in 2017 and 2018 after which CM issued the directions for post facto approval. While issuing orders for the advertisements, the then DG, DGIPR wrote on the file that the chief minister had been informed about the move, by the opposition leader informed.

Speaker Rahul Narvekar directed the state government to take cognisance of the matter.

BJP however ridiculed the allegations and termed them as baseless. “When the Devendra Fadnavis government came into power, the annual budget of DGIPR was ₹26 crore. It was eventually increased to around ₹40 crore. Even if we accumulate the budget of the five-year period of the Fadnavis government, the amount doesn’t go beyond ₹125 crore,” said Keshav Upadhyay, chief spokesperson, in a statement.