Ajit Pawar alleges `500 cr scam

Information and Publicity Dept approved spends on advertisements without sanction from then-CM Fadnavis in 2019, LOP alleges

First India Bureau Mumbai: Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Ajit Pawar on Thursday alleged that a scam of Rs500 crore took place in the state Information and Publicity Department during the tenure of the government led by Devendra Fadnavis, between 2014 and 2019.

Government officials gave approval to publish media advertisements worth more than Rs500 crore in 2019 without the thenCM’s sanction, Pawar claimed and demanded incumbent Chief Minister Eknath Shinde to punish the officials involved in the scam.

Speaking in the Assembly, the senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader said, “The file states that department officials informed the CM that Rs500 crore had been spent to publish advertisements, but he had not sanctioned the expenditure.”

The information and publicity department is handled by the CM.

The Fadnavis-led government of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena (undivided) ruled the state during 2014-19.

“In 2019-20, the government had withheld the payment of these advertisement bills since there was no approval. But now the

Cavity along tracks affects train traffic on Central Rly line

Mumbai (PTI): Train traffic on Central Railway’s main line was affected after a cavity was formed amid micro-tunnelling work near Umbermali station in Thane district on Thursday, an official said.

Pre-monsoon work of micro-tunnelling to push a pipe structure was underway at the site, some 115km from Central Railway’s CSMT headquarters, when a cavity was noticed in the embankment at 6.30 am, Shivaji Sutar, CR chief public relations officer said.

For safety reasons, train operations on the UP line (CSMT-bound line) was stopped at the spot for around 45-50 minutes, which led to present government has given orders to make the payments. This is serious and the government shouldn’t support such activities,” Pawar said. “Such culprits should be punished with suspension. The CM’s approval is mandatory for media adver-

The file states that officials informed the CM that Rs500 crore had been spent to publish advertisements, but he had not sanctioned the expense. In 2019-20, the government had withheld the payment of these advertisement bills since there was no approval. But now the present government has given orders to make the payments. This is serious and the government shouldn’t support such activities.

War Games

Cavity was noticed during pre-monsoon micro-tunnelling to push in a pipe stucture bunching of suburban and long distance trains like Punjab Mail, Vidarbha Express.

“The cavity has been filled with bags and the track was declared safe, after which train movement began with speed restrictions at 7.20 am,” Sutar said.

Meanwhile, passenger activists from the Kalyan-Kasara belt said several suburban trains were delayed and cancelled due to the incident.

Maha to catalogue work of folk artistes, Min says

Mumbai (PTI): The state will set up a portal that will catalogue the work of folk artistes of Maharashtra and help them get orders, cultural affairs minister Sudhir Mungantiwar told in the Legislative Council on Thursday.

He was responding to a question raised by Leader of Opposition Ambadas Danve regarding folk artistes.

“We are setting up a portal that will catalogue the folk artistes in the state. The portal will have description of their art, a small video, which region or city they live. This catalogue will help them to get new work orders,” Mungantiwar said.

Responding to a question related to pending dues of folk artistes, the minister said, “At present, the finance department clears the proposal of honorarium and then we disburse it to the artistes.

I have asked my department to come up with a plan to use Direct Benefit Transfer system to pay honorarium.” tisements. In this case, an unsanctioned ad spend of more than Rs500 crore was approved in an election year (2019),” he claimed.

Without naming the officials, Pawar said an inquiry into these advertisements conducted under former CM Uddhav Thackeray indicted the then principal secretary social justice and DG of information and publicity.

Brijesh Singh, who was the director general of the information and publicity department in 2019, is now with the CMO as principal secretary. The inquiry report had also said that all departments should get the sanction of the chief secretary, the minister concerned and the deputy chief minister, who holds the finance department, Pawar said.

The Indian Navy’s major operational level exercise TROPEX 2023, conducted over four months, concluded in the Arabian Sea this week. The exercises included coastal defence exercise, sea vigil and an amphibious exercise. About 70 Naval ships, six submarines and 75 aircraft were part of TROPEX 23, which also saw significant participation from the Indian Army, the Indian Air Force and the Coast Guard.