Housing ministry seeks action report from Thane civic body

17 Jan 2022 CW Team

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has requested an action taken report from the Thane Municipal Corporation regarding the investigation into the civic body's multi-billion-dollar smart city projects, BJP MLC Niranjan Davkhare said.

Davkhare said that the report must be delivered to the ministry by January 27 and that the chairperson of the smart city mission, Kunal Kumar, had written a letter to Maharashtra's chief secretary on January 6.

A delegation of BJP leaders met with minister Hardeep Singh Puri on December 7 to complain about alleged irregularities and corruption in the execution of smart city projects such as the new Thane railway station, SATIS, and the waterfront, among others, where the corporation had either started work without permissions or without acquiring land.

While executing several multi-crore projects, the Thane civic body failed to follow standard procedures. MLC Niranjan Davkhare, a party colleague and city president, gave a few examples as well.

Davkhare expressed his dissatisfaction, Many of the smart city projects that have been implemented have failed to produce the desired results. The smart water metre project has failed, and the Digi-Thane project has incurred significant costs, with the facility still not being fully utilised by residents. Other projects that haven't progressed in recent years include the waterfront project and underground parking at Gaondevi.

A delegation of BJP leaders expressed their concerns to the minister, who convened a special meeting in New Delhi in the presence of senior officials from the department of urban development.

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