Mumbai: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has declared Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’s ‘Varsha’ bungalow as a defaulter for failing to pay water bills worth over Rs 7 lakhs.
According to a reply to an RTI query filed by activist Shakeel Ahmed Shaikh, the Corporation has stated that as many as 18 Maharashtra state ministers including the chief minister Devendra Fadnavis have not paid their water bills amounting to worth Rs 45 lakhs over the years.
The RTI reply further revealed, that the Chief Minister’s official bungalow is yet to pay water bills worth Rs 7,44,981.
The long list of ministers who have defaulted on their bills includes Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar’s ‘Devgari’ bungalow that has defaulted on Rs 4,45,055 in water bills, Transport Minister Diwakar Rawte’s ‘Meghdoot’ bungalow that defaulted on Rs. 1,61,719 water bills. The list also includes Child Development Minister Pankaja Munde’s bungalow that defaulted on bills worth Rs 35,033.
“If the bills of Chief Minister’s and other State Minister’s bungalows are not paid in time, then how can you expect a common people to do it? If the common people fail to pay their bills, their water connection is disconnected. The same should be done to all the defaulters including Chief Minister’s official bungalow,” the RTI activist Shakeel Ahmed Shaikh was quoted as saying by News18.
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