Eknath Shinde govt sets up panel to probe BMC finances in new attack on Thackeray

The Maharashtra government will table a white paper on BMC’s finances during the Budget session in February-March next year, minister Uday Samant said

MUMBAI: The Eknath Shinde government on Tuesday said the state government has set up a committee of three senior officials to investigate the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) finances over the last 25 years, a move that is seen to target the Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray.

Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde (ANI)

The government will table a white paper on BMC’s finances during the assembly’s Budget session in February-March next year, Maharashtra minister Uday Samant said in the state assembly on Tuesday during his response to the discussion on supplementary demands related to the urban development department.

The Shiv Sena came to power in the BMC in 1985 and has held the reins of the corporation ever since. In the last elections held in 2017, well before the party split into two factions, one led by Eknath Shinde and the other, by Thackeray, the Shiv Sena and BJP finished neck-and-neck, winning 84 and 82 seats, respectively.

Samant, who is the acting urban development minister, said the probe will be conducted by the additional chief secretary of planning deparment, principal secretary of urban development department and director of audit team of finance deparment.

“The committee will probe the alleged financial irregularities over the last 25 years in BMC and submit a report to the government. I assure the people of Maharashtra that a white paper based on the report will be tabled in the state legislature during the budget session,” Samant said.

Bharatiya Janata Party legislator Yogesh Sagar and several other Mumbai MLAs had demanded an audit during the debate.

The probe is seen as an effort to needle Uddhav Thackeray faction of Shiv Sena. In June this year, the government also constituted a special investigation team (SIT) to probe alleged corruption in nine departments of BMC. In a report, the Comptroller and Accountant General had red-flagged various contracts allotted by the civic which has an annual budget of over ₹52,619 crore.

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Anil Parab said that they are not opposed to the BMC probe but want the state government to order audits for other municipal corporations run by the ruling parties.

Parab also questioned the attempt to pin the blame for the BMC problems on Thackeray-led Sena.

“The Shiv Sena and BJP were together for 25 years in BMC except for the last five years. Everyone responsible for the so-called corruption and irregularities should be punished. The probe should be conducted for other municipal corporations including Nagpur, Pune, Thane and not only Mumbai just because it was under Shiv Sena. This is just a misuse of the power and an attempt to defame us,” he said.