Congress MLA holds protest in front of Pune commissioner’s house

Congress Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) from Kasba Peth constituency Ravindra Dhangekar staged a protest in front of Pune municipal commissioner Vikram Kumar’s house on Thursday. Dhangekar alleged corruption in several decisions taken by the civic chief as administration and demanded an inquiry.

Dhangekar said the municipal commissioner, despite several letters and complaints in the past, is going ahead with proposals and projects in favour of the ruling party members. Kumar has distributed ₹137 crore allocated for the PMC-run Atal Bihari Vajpayee Medical College project to wards.

“The allocated funds for a project cannot be diverted to other work. Furthermore, crores of rupees meant for healthcare were given to one ward. This money, which was supposed to be spent on health, has been pocketed under the name of drainage and sewers,” claimed the MLA.

Dhangekar said that as the commissioner was not ready to listen to his request, he was left with no option but to hold protest in front of the latter’s house. Several complaints have been made to the chief minister, deputy chief ministers and police department amongst others requesting an inquiry and action against Kumar.

He said that when PMC-run hospitals are in bad shape, funds allocated for health projects are diverted to other works. “Yesterday, the tender for the food laboratory in Kondhwa was given to a contractor despite irregularities. The tenders and work orders are being issued in one day by PMC. The civic body is following the agenda of the ruling party. An offence has to be filed against the PMC commissioner,” he said.

Dhangekar said the protest is over the fund for health diverted to other work. “It has never happened in the past thirty years that money meant for healthcare being given for drainage and sewage,” he said.

Despite repeated attempts, the municipal commissioner was unavailable for comment.