After BMC, allegations of nCoV irregularities in Shinde bastion

GLASS HOUSES?

First India Bureau

Aurangabad: Shiv Sena - Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray faction leader Ambadas Danve on Monday urged Chief Minister Eknath Shinde to look into issues plaguing Marathwada whenever he visits the region. He was referring to the latter’s presence at a religious gathering there.

The CM was in Aurangabad on Sunday to attend a religious event.

AADITYA THACKERAY TO TOUR THREE MARATHWADA DISTRICTS

First India Bureau

Mumbai: Weeks after the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation received a clean chit in the alleged Remdesivir scam of 2020-21, there are rumours alleging irregularities in pandemic-relief work carried out by the Ambernath Municipal Council and the KalyanDombivli Municipal Corporation.

Notably, the ruling coalition of the Shiv Sena faction led by CM Eknath Shinde and the

Bharatiya Janata Party led by Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis has been loudest in alleging scams in the BMC, which was led by Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena, during the pandemic.

Meanwhile, Ambernath and the KDMC both fall in areas considered to be bastions of CM Shinde for the

CRUCIAL READ

COBBLERS, STALL OWNERS PROTEST EVICTION THREAT NEAR THANE RLY STN

Thane: AHundreds of cobblers and their relatives held a protest near Thane railway station on Monday claiming they were being harassed due to an eviction drive allegedly being carried out at the behest of a local leader. Around 430 stalls are permitted legally by the Maharashtra social welfare department and the Thane Municipal Corporation but officials were threatening them with eviction, claimed Cobblers’ Association president Rajabhau Chavan. The protest dispersed after officials promised to pass on their demands to higher-ups.

FIRE AT MUMBAI RESIDENTIAL BLDG; NO CASUALTIES

Mumbai: A flat in a 19-storey residential building in Mumbai caught fire on Monday, a fire official said. No casualties were reported in the incident. The fire brigade received a call at around 12.30 pm about a fire on the seventh floor of Om Shiv Shakti housing society on M A Road in Sion Koliwada area, the official said. Four fire engines, a water tanker and other assistance were rushed to the spot and the blaze was put out by 1.30 pm, he said.

past decade or so.

According to a report in the Indian Express, the Maharashtra government had announced a ‘seva fortnight’ for a period between Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s birthday and Gandhi Jayanti last year. It was further extended as the government claimed that it had got a massive response, and all the pending applications were to be cleared during the period. Despite several promises by the state ministers that its report would be made public after state cabinet meetings, no details of the actual work done within the campaign has come to light so far, the report states.

In Remembrance

Meanwhile, BMC administrator Iqbal Singh Chahal continued to be under the scanner of the Enforcement Directorate as recently as early this month, for alleged irregularities in contracts awarded for the setting up of jumbo COVID-19 care centres in Mumbai at the peak of the pandemic.

“There is nothing wrong in attending religious meetings and coming to Marathwada for the same. But the chief minister should also look into issues and ensure that they are resolved. Does he (Shinde) feel that the problems in the region have been solved?” said the Leader of Opposition in the state Legislative Council.

Matters pertaining to irrigation and Marathwada Development Board are not on the agenda of the state government since its for-

There is nothing wrong in attending religious meetings and coming to Marathwada for the same. But the chief minister should also look into issues and ensure that they are resolved.

—Ambadas Danve, Shiv Sena - UBT leader mation, he claimed.

The case is not limited to Marathwada alone, it is happening with Vidarbha and the state capital Mumbai, Danve alleged. The state keeps talking about what it did six months ago, but is not looking into issues of the public, he said.

Aurangabad (PTI): Shiv Sena - Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray leader Aaditya Thackeray will tour Aurangabad and two other districts of central Maharashtra on February 01. He will interact with party-supported village representatives elected recently and also local residents, said a functionary of the Opposition outfit on Monday. During the visit, the former minister will tour nearly 15 villages of Aurangabad, Jalna and Beed districts in the Marathwada region, said Shiv Sena -UBT leader Ambadas Danve. The MLA from Worli in Mumbai will also interact with villagers during the visit, Danve added.