Cong's Deora Seeks CBI Probe into Rs 12,000 Cr Spent by BMC on Mumbai Roads in Five Years

Maharashtra Congress leader and former Lok Sabha MP Milind Deora has demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into Rs 12,000 crore spent by Mumbai’s civic body on road works between 2017 and 2022. He said the amount is “10 per cent of the annual budget of the National Highway Authority of India’s annual budget”, adding that Mumbaikars deserved to know who was looting the country’s richest civic body.

“Between 2017-22, the BMC spent Rs 12,000 crore on Mumbai’s roads – a staggering 10 per cent of the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) ‘s annual budget! Mumbaikars brave potholes every year and deserve to know who is looting India’s richest civic body,” Deora tweeted on Wednesday.

Seeking a CBI probe, Deora said roads are just the tip of the iceberg as the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation had spent an additional Rs 45 crore per year, or Rs 225 crore in five years, on road maintenance, including clearing potholes with cold mix.

The BMC spent Rs 2,300 crore in the fiscal 2017-18, Rs 2,250 crore in 2018-19, Rs 2,560 crore in 2019-20, Rs 2,200 crore in 2020-21 and Rs 2,350 crore in 2021-22, Deora said. Ravi Raja, the Congress’ group leader in the civic body whose tenure ended recently, also supported Deora.

“I agree that a whopping amount of Rs 12,000 crore spent on Mumbai roads by the BMC and we all see the results every day. The cold mix method used by the BMC has always given a bad result but the administration still insisted on it. This raises suspicion and inquiry must be conducted,” Raja tweeted.

Meanwhile, queried on the issue, Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole said Mumbai has drowned ever since the Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party started ruling the civic body.

He said the metropolis didn’t face flooding when mayors were from the Congress, Patole claimed. The Congress’ attack comes against the backdrop of Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday informing the Assembly that a special audit of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) would be conducted in the functioning of the BMC.

Civic polls are expected to happen in the metropolis soon.

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