Right to Information (RTI) activist Shakeel Ahmed Sheikh, on Monday, December 14, 2020, released a report which stated that the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has declared Varsha Bungalow, the official residence of the Chief Minister, as a defaulter due to non-payment of the water bill. As per the information released, a sum of INR 24,916 has been pending from the CM's bungalow.
Besides this, names of 17 other ministers and their respective residences have been marked under the defaulter's list for not clearing the water bill dues, the total sum of which amounts to over INR 24.56 lakh.
The allegations came to light on the first day of the Legislative Assembly session which was held on Monday. The information was gathered by Sheikh from BMC's website.
The names on the list included the following names (residences): Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray (Varsha), Chief Minister's Security Personnel (Torna), Finance Minister Ajit Pawar (Devagiri), Jayant Patil (Sevasadan), Nitin Raut, Energy Minister (Parnakuti), Balasaheb Thorat, Revenue Minister (Royal Stone), Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis (Sagar), Ashok Chavan (Meghdoot) Subhash Desai, Industry Minister (Puratan), Dilip Walse Patil (Shivgiri), Public Works Minister Eknath Shinde (Nandanvan), Rajesh Tope (Jetavan), Nana Patole, Assembly Speaker (Chitrakuta), Rajendra Shinge (Satpuda), Nawab Malik (Muktagiri), Chhaganrao Bhujbal (Ramtek), Ramraja Nimbalkar Vidhan Bhavan Speaker (Ajantha) and Sahyadri Guest House.
Expressing his views, Sheikh questioned that if the government department does not pay the water arrears on time, how does it expect the general public to pay? He also dared Municipal Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal to cut the water supply of the official residence of these ministers.
Responding to the same, the CMO released a clarification stating that no dues were pending from Varsha and Toran. However, the statement did not mention any information regarding the pending dues of residences owned by other ministers.
Share
Tweet
