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BJP, NCP at war over credit for Bhama Askhed water project
The project is considered to be a landmark in the development of the eastern side of the city
A war has broken out over taking credit for the Bhama Askhed water project between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
The project is considered to be a landmark in the development of the eastern side of the city.
The Bhama Askhed project which has been plagued in delays was completed recently and the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has begun its trials.
The PMC is bringing water in from a dam that is 50 kilometres away. Water will be provided to areas that fall under Ahmednagar road, Kharadi, Vadgaonsheri and Kalyani nagar.
After the completion of the project, city unit president and former MLA Jagdish Mulik visited the project and announced that the ruling BJP will inaugurate the project at the hands of former Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.
Mulik claimed, “During his tenure as MLA from Vadgaonsheri, he followed up the project for a period of five years continuously.”
Pune mayor Murlidhar Mohol and standing committee chairman Hemant Rasne also supported city unit president and assured to inaugurate the project at the hands of Fadnavis.
Meanwhile NCP’s incumbent MLA Sunil Tingre has objected to Mulik’s Fadnavis inauguration announcement.
Tingre said, “The project was conceptualised and started in NCP’s tenure in 2014. Congress and NCP took approval from the Central government and got the funds under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission. During the BJP’s tenure, the leaders were not able to sort out the whole issue and they delayed it for almost five years. Ajit Pawar took interest in it after the Maha Vikas Agadi was sworn in power and completed the rest of the work. It was decided by the PMC to inaugurate the project at the hands of Pawar.”
Rasne said, “The Central government had given Rs 171 crore for this project and the state government contributed Rs 68 crore in it. Despite that, the Pune Municipal Corporation had spent Rs 112 crore on the project.”
The BJP claims that during their tenure, they underwent a financial burden for the project despite it being funded by both the state and the Central government. However, the NCP blamed the BJP for increasing the financial burden of the project.
