Mumbai, May 28 (PTI) Maharashtra minister and Mumbai BJP chief Ashish Shelar on Wednesday accused the Uddhav Thackeray-led party of failing to improve the stormwater drainage system in Mumbai despite controlling the civic body for over two decades and spending Rs 1 lakh crore for the purpose.
He called this a “betrayal of Mumbaikars” by Uddhav Thackeray, who heads the Shiv Sena (UBT), and his MLA son Aaditya Thackeray, and demanded a white paper on the utilisation of funds.
The undivided Shiv Sena ruled the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the richest civic body in the country, for more than two decades.
His comments came in the wake of a political slugfest over waterlogging witnessed in Mumbai following heavy rains with the opposition accusing the government of failing to prepare the city despite heavy spending.
The political sparring intensified with a sharp jab from Aaditya Thackeray, who said the Metro line was “aptly named Aqua, since it is under water”. Operations on Mumbai’s new Metro Line 3 (Aqua) were suspended on Monday due to heavy rains inundating an underground station.
The sudden downpour also affected road and rail traffic in the metropolis on Monday.
Shelar, who is the Guardian Minister for Mumbai Suburban district, led a BJP delegation and met Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) Commissioner and its state-appointed administrator Bhushan Gagrani and submitted a memorandum seeking a white paper on the expenditure over stormwater drain projects carried out in the last two decades.
He sought to know why despite massive spending, the city continues to suffer from floods during monsoon.
Approximately Rs 1 lakh crore were spent by the BMC over the past 20 years on flood management projects, such as cleaning of nullahs and Mithi river, stormwater drains and the Brihanmumbai storm water disposal (Brimstowad), but the situation in the city failed to improve, he said during the meeting.
“Where have these Rs 1 lakh crore gone? Uddhav and Aaditya Thackeray must explain this to Mumbaikars. Only then should they question us about the last three years,” Shelar said.
Around 40 per cent of BMC’s Rs 80 lakh crore budget over the last 20 years was allocated for development, and about 10 per cent of that amount, approximately Rs 1 lakh crore, went to stormwater drains, Mithi river desilting and Brimstoward.
“But there has been no substantial improvement despite this expenditure,” he said.
Shelar raised concerns about the delay in completion of the Brimstowad project.
“How much funds were allocated for the purpose till 2017 and why has the system meant to function for a rainfall of 25 mm to 50 mm still not been implemented fully?” he asked.
On the Mithi river desilting, he asked, “How much silt was removed, where was it dumped and how much money was spent on it?”
He referred to ongoing investigation by the Mumbai police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) in the alleged Rs 65 crore Mithi river desilting scam, citing irregularities such as contracts in the names of deceased individuals and reports of non-existent dumping grounds.
The BJP leader sought to know the height of how many outfalls located below the high-tide line has been raised in the past 20 years.
Shelar said there are 82 landslide-prone sites in the suburbs, of which 47 have been marked as hazardous.
While MHADA installs protective nets up to a height of nine feet, the area above that falls under the purview of the Public Works Department, which lacks funding, he said.
The BMC should allocate funds to carry out this work immediately.
If tasks like trimming of tree branches and laying of safety nets to prevent landslides are not carried out urgently, the commissioner will be held accountable for any accidents during the monsoon, the BJP leader warned.
Raising concern over the pumps that failed to clear accumulated water after heavy rains in Mumbai, he accused the Thackerays of altering tender conditions to benefit a favoured contractor.
Talking about the Coastal Road project, Shelar claimed that substandard material was used in the reclamation process and demanded that the truth be presented to the public.
Addressing the delegation, BMC commissioner Gagrani said the early arrival of monsoon disrupted BMC’s planning.
He admitted that only 55 per cent work of desilting the Mithi river has been completed, and promised to complete the remaining work within eight days.
Pumps would be installed at waterlogged points within 24 hours and additional pumps would be deployed if required, he said.
Shelar said BJP functionaries and former corporators would monitor the progress of these tasks.
