TMC chief: Text taken out of context, misquoted

Amid the outrage in the general body meeting of the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) over his alleged derogatory remarks on a WhatsApp group, civic commissioner

Amid the outrage in the general body meeting of the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) over his alleged derogatory remarks on a WhatsApp group, civic commissioner Sanjeev Jasiwal, who claimed to be in Dubai, told Hindustan Times that he was misquoted and the text was taken “out of context”.

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“The message is not read in full context. It was a series of messages regarding loyalty to the institution, however, this [the derogatory remarks] was read in isolation and misunderstood. I did not name any officer, nor did I make a public statement. I was merely expressing my thoughts on a private WhatsApp group. The derogatory comment on women is also completely misquoted,” he claimed.

He said that the entire issue began with the transfer, which was a result of a departmental audit.

“There was a third party study of all our departments, following which an internal inquiry committee was set up to investigate irregularities in a few departments. The inquiry revealed there was a strong nexus between officials, garbage vans and politicos. We realized that [municipal secretary and deputy municipal commissioner Ashok] Burpulle and [mayor Naresh] Mhaske has some involvement in the company that supplies garbage vans.”

Jaiswal added that this was why the duo was unhappy over the transfer. “The municipal secretary posts also had similar discrepancies. It is a usual practice that the administration puts forth proposals which the general body approves or rejects. We realized that most proposals, especially related to road works, were taken up without our approval and were published in the media,” he said. “This is why Burpulle was transferred. It was not taken well by him and the mayor who wielded political pressure to stay these transfers. They are also now scared of these irregularities coming in the open and have tried to put me in a spot by exposing private messages…The state government has assured to give me posting elsewhere after the Assembly sessions. I will end my tenure in Thane city on February 28.”

Burpulle refuted the allegations and said, “If there is any such third party report, where is its copy? Why wasn’t I sent any show-cause notice. Moreover, all files have signatures of the commissioner. If he claims there are irregularities, the state can set up an inquiry.”

Mhaske claimed he was unnecessarily dragged into this. “I agree that six road proposals were taken up by us, however, we were following the directives of the minister,” he said.