Pimpri: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which came to power in Pimpri-Chinchwad claiming that it will root out corruption, has recently cleared a bill worth Rs 25 lakh of a contractor involved in purchasing Vitthal Rukmini idols. Interestingly, BJP, during its election campaign, had levelled corruption charges against its predecessor Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) for the purchase of Vitthal Rukumini idols. The idols were purchased by Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) in 2016.
Now, as BJP has cleared the payment of Rs 25 lakh, NCP has charged BJP for unnecessarily blaming them for corruption.
The idols were purchased to give away as gifts to the heads of Dindis participating in the annual Palkhi procession. A total of 650 idols were purchased at the cost of Rs 3,900 each. It was alleged that the actual price of the idol was between Rs 2,500 to 2,700.
During elections, it may be recalled that BJP had cornered NCP over this scam. Following these allegations, PCMC had initiated an enquiry into this matter. During the enquiry, it was pointed out that no rules were followed at the time of procurement. After the enquiry committee’s report, the PCMC then decided to withhold the bills of the contractor. However, after coming to power, BJP has cleared the bills worth Rs 25 lakh of a contractor despite finding irregularities in the procurement process.
This issue has been flagged by city unit chief of NCP, who said, “Making payments to the contractor has proved that there was no corruption. It has been proved that the BJP made an issue out of nothing. We want the civic body to publish the report of the enquiry committee so that the truth will be known.”
