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Anurag Thakur targets Uddhav's Sena: 'BMC has highest tax collection but...'
Mumbai's civic body - the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation - is one the richest civic bodies in the country.
Union minister Anurag Thakur on Sunday trained his guns on Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena as he questioned the functioning of Mumbai’s civic body - the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation or the BMC. Thakur, who is the union sports minister, said the civic body was not doing enough to encourage sports.
“The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has the highest tax collection, and budget... still, they're unable to focus on proper sanitation, beautification of the city, and encouraging sports,” Thakur was quoted as saying by news agency ANI. “A proper road map is in preparation to initiate such policies,” he added.
The targeting of the BMC by the minister in his remarks comes months after Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government collapsed in Maharashtra following the rebellion of Eknath Shinde, who had joined forces with the BJP.
Last month, Maharashtra deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had announced multiple investigations, including one by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) into alleged financial irregularities and corruption linked to the civic body. “There are some specific complaints which are of such a nature that they require a special audit by CAG. The money of the people was siphoned off and the chief minister has directed to conduct a special audit through CAG,” Fadnavis had said in the state assembly, HT had reported.
The BMC - one of the richest civic bodies in the country - has been ruled by the Shiv Sena for nearly three decades.
An investigation by the anti-corruption bureau (ACB) into the delimitation of BMC wards - that was announced by former CM Uddhav Thackeray in November 2021 - was also ordered by CM Shinde after he took charge. The delimitation move, the BJP claimed, aimed to give an electoral advantage to Uddhav Thackeray's party.
(With inputs from ANI)
