An RTI application has revealed that the TMC has spent only 20 per cent of the Rs 203 crores received from the central government under the smart city scheme. The applicant further claims that the civic body showed civic expenses incurred for two projects under the smart city expenditure.
On April 18, Thane Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) student wing president Sandeep Pachange obtained information under the Right to Information (RTI) Act about the funds received by the Thane municipal corporation (TMC) under the smart city project. The reply stated that from 2014-2019 the civic body received Rs 203 crore as funding from the Centre. "Out of this they had spent only Rs 41 crores which is roughly 20 % of the amount under the smart city scheme," said Pachange.
What further piqued his curiosity is that the TMC had issued work orders for two projects even before the smart city scheme came into being. "The TMC had issued a work order for Hariyali lakefront development on March 3, 2014, and Kamal lakefront development in 2016," alleges Pachange. "This was done under TMC expenditure but in our RTI query they stated it as smart city expenses," he adds.
Quoting the amount spent on the above lakes, Pachange alleged that while TMC has insufficient funds to finish projects, why are they spending the amount twice for the same work (read TMC and smart city projects)? "This is a lake city scam and the oversmartness of such officials needs to be investigated," he alleged.
We tried contacting Sandip Malvi, TMC's public relations officer who was unavailable for comments.
