BMC’s ₹263-cr street furniture contract is scam in making: Aaditya Thackeray

In a new letter to Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation commissioner I S Chahal, Thackeray sought a report of the three-member committee, which finalised 13 street furniture items and locations for installing them

Mumbai: Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Aaditya Thackeray on Sunday slammed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) over its ₹263-crore street furniture contract.

Mumbai, India - April 15, 2023: Shivsena (UBT) leader and MLA Aaditya Thackeray addresses the media alongside MLA Ravindra Waikar, at Matoshree, Bandra, in Mumbai, India, on Saturday, April 15, 2023. (Photo by Bhushan Koyande/HT Photo) (HT PHOTO)

In a new letter to BMC commissioner I S Chahal, Thackeray sought a report of the three-member committee, which finalised 13 street furniture items and locations for installing them.

“I have written about another possible scam in the making to the BMC administrator and seeking clarity on it. His conspicuous silence and inability to answer any of these questions posed by a Mumbaikar only increases the confirmation that this too, like roads, is a scam,” Thackeray said in a tweet while sharing the letter to Chahal.

“Why was the purchase tender issued from the Central Purchase Department (in-charge for the health department) and not the roads department? What is the itemised market cost of items required to be supplied by the contractor/supplier? Why is it necessary that the contractor or supplier buy all the 13 items apparently required by the BMC? What items have been called for through purchase and in what quantities,” Thackeray asked in the letter. He also asked for the Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute’s (VJTI) quality testing report of all bidders who took part in the tender.