Mumbai: The BMC’s L-ward has failed to provide the details of beneficiaries who received pressure cookers distributed under the alleged Rs 12.5 crore pressure cooker scam that the FPJ has been highlighting. While the BMC has been accused of distributing the cookers illegally through Chandivali MLA Dilip Lande without any due diligence, the failure to provide information on the beneficiaries has raised significant concerns.
About The Pressure Cooker Scam
On August 13, the FPJ highlighted the alleged 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.
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Saki Naka Police Initiates A Probe Into The Matter
After Advocate Nikhil Kamble complained to the BMC and the Mumbai police, the Saki Naka police initiated a probe, but it hit a roadblock after Dhanaji Hirlekar, the assistant municipal commissioner of the ward, did not cooperate with the probe. Kamble has also moved the Bombay High Court through a public interest litigation, dubbing the procurement and distribution of cookers illegal.
On August 19, Kamble sought information from the ward’s maintenance department regarding the detailed list of women beneficiaries. Since Lande was accused of distributing the cookers to his associates and people from his vote base without fulfilling the criteria of their economic status, the RTI query also sought copies of applications made by the beneficiaries as well as the rejected applications. However, the BMC responded, saying that the information is personal to the applicants and the record has not been finalised yet.
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"Once the records are finalised, the shareable information will be provided to you,” stated the reply.
BMC Fails To Provie Information To RTI Application
The BMC also failed to provide information to another RTI application made by Kamble on August 22, which sought inspection of all the documents related to the distribution.
Kamble said, “As the BMC did not distribute the cookers according to the procedure and instead gave it away to Lande, there is no official record of beneficiaries with the corporation. On the other hand, Lande also distributed the cookers to his party workers and associates and to save their names from getting exposed, he has not maintained any data…”