Mumbai, March 21 (IANS) Members of the ruling BJP and opposition parties in the Maharashtra Assembly on Friday cornered Deputy Chief Minister and Urban Development Minister Eknath Shinde on the issue of concretisation of Mumbai roads.
They slammed the state government over alleged irregularities in the work of concretisation of Mumbai’s roads.
Maharashtra Speaker Rahul Narvekar ordered a meeting of Mumbai legislators on the allegations of irregularities in the tenders for concretisation of roads in Mumbai, issued by the previous government led by Eknath Shinde. Shinde handled the UD department portfolio in the previous government as well.
Narvekar directed the state government to hold a meeting in his chamber on Monday afternoon and asked Deputy CM Ekanth Shinde to be there, calling all party MLAs. He also asked the state government to come prepared with a response on whether a probe by Economic Offences Wing (EOW) should be ordered in these tenders.
BJP legislator Atul Bhatkhalkar raised the issue of incomplete and poor quality works in concretisation of roads, pointing out that merely a fine was slapped and officials are only given a notice.
Another BJP legislator Ameet Satam argued that roads less than 15 meters wide should be completed with mastic asphalt.
Satam mentioned that despite spending Rs 21,000 crore on roads in Mumbai from 1997 to 2022, it has turned out to be a wasteful expenditure.
“As a solution, the then Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and the current Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis introduced the concept of cement concrete roads, which is a welcome move. However, due to the ongoing digging of roads, many senior citizens are staying at home and unable to go for walks. The entire city has been dug up, and the work on cement concrete roads, which started in October 2023, is still ongoing after a year and a half,” said Satam, adding that roads wider than 15 meters can be made of cement concrete, but roads smaller than 15 meters are better suited for mastic asphalt.
Assembly Speaker Rahul Narvekar intervened, saying that the tender was floated in his own constituency two years ago, but the contractor did not perform the work, so the tender was re-tendered six months ago and the work has yet not begun.
Congress legislator Amit Deshmukh sought to know the names of road contractors who have been awarded works worth Rs 6,632 crore while Shiv Sena (UBT) legislator Aaditya Thackeray questioned whether the contractors were provided advance mobility charge.
Minister Uday Samant said that issues raised by legislators will be probed and in the first phase, 191 roads were under construction.
Replying to Thackeray, Samant said advance mobility charge was given in some cases. “These are works worth Rs 6,632 crore for concretisation of 698 roads. Some works are in progress, we are doing third party audit and checking the quality as well,” Samant said.
Replying to Congress legislator Amin Patel on forming a committee of MLAs, the minister said that he will consult the same with Deputy CM Ekanth Shinde.
Speaker Rahul Narvekar said: “A meeting will be held with the Urban Development Minister in this regard in my office on Monday at 3 p.m. An inquiry in the similar matter was conducted earlier through EOW. Considering the current serious information, should the EOW conduct another investigation? They should think about this and come to the meeting.”
–IANS
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