NCP blows Rs20 crore on Mumbai office revamp

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has reportedly spent Rs20 crore to renovate its office, scheduled to be inaugurated on Friday. The party also has acquired the adjacent godowns, which had been used for accounts and treasury records of the state government until now.

The hi-tech NCP office at Nariman Point will be inaugurated by Union agriculture minister and party chief Sharad Pawar.

Although party leaders refused to disclose the exact figures of the amount spent on the renovation, sources claimed that the total expenditure was Rs20 crore.

The office is equipped with state-of-the-art technology that enables uplinking of bytes of party leaders to various channels, as well as powerpoint presentations to the plush cabins of leaders and ministers.

Moreover, the furniture and other materials used to revamp the office were reportedly imported.

According to an official from the general administration department of the government, the NCP also acquired the adjacent godowns which were earlier used by the accounts and treasury department.

“The godowns that were used to store salary and account records of 163 government offices have been shifted to Navi Mumbai. This would cause great inconvenience to the government,” he added.

NCP state president Madhukar Pichad, however, rubbished the claim and said that everything that was done to renovate the office was done with prior permission.

“The work started only after acquiring prior permission of the agencies concerned. The bills against the use of additional electricity and water would be borne by the party and the rent for the use of the additional space would be paid as per the government rate,” he said.