The
Asian Age: Mumbai: Wednesday, June 26, 2019.
According
to a recent Right To Information (RTI) plea, the chief minister’s bungalow, Varsha,
owes Rs 7.44 lakh to the civic body as water charges.
The
Opposition members in the legislative Assembly on Tuesday demanded that water
supply to ministers including chief minister Devendra Fadnavis must be stopped for non-payment of their
outstanding dues.
Raising
the issue, senior Nationalist Congress Party MLA and former deputy chief
minister Ajit Pawar, said that the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has
declared chief minister’s residence, Varsha, and other ministers’ defaulters
after the water bills were not paid.
“The
water supply to their houses should be stopped. They would understand the
importance of the issue only if they have to come to Vidhan Sabha without
taking a bath,” said Ajit Pawar.
“Crores
of people live in Mumbai. Their water connections are discontinued if they fail
to pay their water bills. However, no action is being taken against chief
minister and other ministers despite the fact that their water bills are
pending since past several months,” he added.
“It
is a shame for the state government that the ministers don’t pay water bills on
time. People will question the continued supply of water to ministers who have
long pending dues,” Mr Pawar said.
According
to the BMC, the total amount of the bill pending is around Rs 7,44,981.
Apart
from Mr Fadnavis, names of 18 other Maharashtra ministers are also in the list
of defaulters, after they did not clear the pending dues.
Among
those in the list of defaulters are state finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar,
school education minister Vinod Tawde, rural development minister Pankaja
Munde, environment minsiter Ramdas Kadam and health minister Eknath Shinde.
State government’s official residences owe Rs 8 crore to BMC, says the
information revealed in a Right To Information (RTI) plea.
Meanwhile,
several departments of the Maharashtra government have repotedly not paid their
water bills to the BMC since 2001.
As
of May 31, 2019, the Maharashtra government owes Rs 481.52 crores to the civic
body.
A
total of 22 state departments find their place in the civic body’s defaulters
list on the pending water bills.
NCP
‘begs’ to pay for CM’s unpaid water bill
Following
reports of chief minister Devendra Fadnavis’ residence, “Varsha” bungalow, not
having paid water bills worth lakhs of rupees, the youth wing of the
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Tuesday staged a “Bheek Maango” protest to
“foot the pending bills”.
The
NCP activists begged outside Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT),
urging people to donate money for paying the pending water bills of the
bungalows of the chief minister and some other ministers.
The
NCP youth wing's working president Suraj Chavan said, “The Brihanmumbai
Municipal Corporation cuts water supply when common citizens fail to pay bills
even for a month or two. But the bill of the chief minister’s bungalow has been
pending for several months. We will help pay the bill with the ‘Bheek Maango’
protest.”
If
the BMC fails to take action in the matter in the next four to five days, they
would lead a march towards the chief minister’s official residence and cut its
water supply along with civic officials, he said.
According
to a recent Right To Information (RTI) plea, the chief minister’s bungalow,
Varsha, owes Rs 7.44 lakh to the civic body as
water charges.
However,
the state government has made it clear that the water bills of the bungalows of
the chief minister and other ministers were paid in November 2018 itself.
The
state government added that the process to clear the dues, however, was stopped
after a “difference” was noticed in the bills cleared earlier and received in
May this year, it said.
The
government also said that the process to clear the dues was being undertaken
immediately after tallying the same. A dozen other ministers’ homes were also
in the defaulters list.
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