PWD officials: Suspension of PWD officials demanded for misappropriation of funds in Mumbai |

Mumbai: The opposition demands the suspension of PWD officials from that Mumbai Presidency Department who allegedly diverted funds intended for payment of electricity bills in ministers’ bungalows to contractor for repairs and maintenance the bungalows.
Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council, Ambadas Danve of the Shiv Sena (UBT), said the engineers and officials responsible should be suspended pending the completion of the investigation.He called for an investigation at the highest level.
Rais Shaikh, MP of the Samajwadi Party, said the investigation must go deep to determine the extent of the illegal Fund diversion because the Rs 260 million currently known to have been embezzled was just the tip of the iceberg.
According to officials, the PWD has released Rs 26 crore to private contractors for maintenance and repair work on ministers’ bungalows from funds released exclusively for payment of water and electricity bills of these residences. The money was paid from funds totalling Rs 52 crore sanctioned exclusively for payment of electricity and water charges for 36 government bungalows from March 2017 to March 2023.
“This kind of misappropriation of funds shows the massive collusion between contractors and engineers and officials of the PWD. The state government must suspend the engineers of the Mumbai Presidency Division of the PWD and then continue the investigation. Unless the officials are suspended, no investigation will serve any purpose. I will take up the issue in the coming monsoon session of the state legislature. The expenditure on ministerial bungalows is nothing but fraud,” Danve said.
Shaikh said that all funds spent by PWD on repairs and maintenance of the ministerial bungalows must be audited by a third party. “Most of the repairs and renovations are fake and the bills are all artificially inflated. The Mumbai Presidency Division of the PWD seems to have become a centre of corruption, cost escalation and shoddy work,” Shaikh said.
Officials said around Rs 6.2 crore was spent on the water and electricity bills of Varsha, the chief minister’s residence, in the last six years. They said of this, Rs 2.37 crore was disbursed to contractors for maintenance and repair work. While Rs 2.76 crore was spent on the chief minister’s residence in Sagar, of this, Rs 1.47 crore was disbursed to contractors for maintenance and repair work.
NCP (SP) MP Supriya Sule posted: “Gross financial mismanagement and abuse of power by the Mahayuti government in Maharashtra.”

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