Mumbai: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s vigilance report of the alleged ‘Rs 12.50 Crore Pressure Cooker Scam’ has highlighted several procurement scams in the L Ward. Along with 50,000 pressure cookers, the L Ward had procured sarees, umbrellas, laptops, walkers, spectacles and jute bags worth crores on the same date.
However, the vigilance department’s observations revealed that while the bills were paid, there is no evidence that these products were actually delivered to the BMC.
Advocate Nikhil Kamble, the complainant in the Pressure Cooker Scam, has written to the BMC and Mumbai Police demanding to book MLA Dilip Lande, executive engineer of L Ward and other BMC officials alleging that these items were used by Lande to woo voters before elections.
On August 13, the FPJ highlighted the alleged Pressure Cooker scam wherein the BMC reportedly bought 50,000 cookers at a cost of Rs 12.50 crore, allegedly four times costlier than the market price. The drive was actually a part of a municipal social welfare scheme meant for the underprivileged. However, the BMC got them distributed by Lande, who passed off the initiative as his own by etching his own name on the cookers.
Recently, Kamble sought the vigilance report about the pressure cooker scam from the BMC under the Right To Information act. However, he also came across several vigilance reports about L Ward’s procurement of sarees, umbrellas, laptops, walkers, spectacles and jute bags which raised concerns as all the tenders and procurements were carried out on February 28, the same date as the procurement of pressure cookers.
Notably, the BMC has procured sarees worth Rs1.90 Cr, umbrellas worth Rs38.38 Lakhs, laptops worth Rs21 Lakhs, spectacles worth Rs15.24 Lakhs, walkers for senior citizens worth Rs14.28 Lakhs and jute bags worth Rs 21.18 Lakhs.
Surprisingly all these items have been procured from either Kina Enterprises or Gurudev Traders, which had also provided pressure cookers. However, none of the purchase orders mentioned the quantity and rate of the items at which they were purchased.
The chief engineer of BMC’s vigilance department had carried out an inspection in these procurements and has highlighted severe lapses on the part of BMC officials. The Vigilance reports observed lack of proper documentation like date-wise photographs of supply received, purchase order wise delivery challans of the supplied material and the list of beneficiaries.
It also highlighted incomplete information in the purchase orders like delivery period, quantity and rate of items along with lack of technical specifications to ensure the quality of products.
The vigilance reports also observed while scrutinizing the record that the item of umbrella was not included in the circular of BMC planning department. It also highlighted that the bills against the purchase order were processed despite the vigilance notification remaining unresolved. While the sarees were paid for through eight purchase orders and umbrellas through two purchase orders, vigilance highlighted that the procurement was also carried out through multiple tenders instead of a single tender.
Based on the lapses highlighted in the vigilance reports, Kamble has written to BMC Commissioner and deputy commissioner of police (zone 10) demanding to take cognizance of the vigilance reports and register an FIR against Lande, executive engineer of L Ward, other concerned BMC officials and the contractors. He alleged that the BMC has failed to deliver the items to the actual beneficiaries and instead handed over the items to MLA Lande for his political promotion, like he did with the pressure cookers.
Talking to The Free Press Journal, Kamble said, “It has been three months since I am fighting for accountability and action against Dilip Lande and BMC officials for the misuse of public money for political promotions. I am shocked to know that not only pressure cookers but sarees, umbrellas, spectacles and so many other items are a part of this multi-crore scam. BMC’s vigilance reports prove everything we have been claiming but still the department, which seems to be under pressure from the government, is not taking any action against its officials, the contractors and Lande, who has turned out to be the brand ambassador for corruption.”
Mandeep Singh Makkar, founder of Chandivali Citizens Welfare Association, said, “It’s been disgusting and annoying for the people of Chandivali to know that their funds have been misused to purchase sarees and jute bags, umbrellas, spectacles, and laptops. These things are basically distributed to MLA’s karyakartas. We have also seen a video clip in the past of a rickshaw driver taking multiple cookers to the house of their shaka pramukh. People of Chandivali feel cheated that on one hand, we do not have basic utilities like staff and fire engines in Chandivali Mini Fire Station, our DP Road 9 is in shambles, no effective action has been taken against pollution, and on the other hand public funds have been misused to fund MLA’s election campaign. The administration should take appropriate legal action to punish those responsible for misusing public funds.”
