Bhimale accuses Kunal Kumar of irregularities

Pune: In a press conference held recently, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s Shrinath Bhimale accused former municipal commissioner Kunal Kumar of irregularities in the Pune Connect, the Server Development (data corrupt) and the LED projects. 

Leader of the House Shrinath Bhimale alleged that these smart city projects are riddled with corruption and action should be taken against civic officials responsible for the same. Bhimale, along with Mayor Mukta Tilak and Deputy Mayor Siddharth Dhende, addressed the press meet.

The ambitious Pune Connect, LED for street lights and issuing bonds for 24x7 water pipeline projects were launched during Kunal Kumar’s tenure as the civic chief. 

However, the Bharatiya Janata Party held Kumar accountable for irregularities in the projects after the opposition also raked up the issues.

“The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) had decided to purchase a server in 2016. However, the server was taken on rent by spending Rs 23.50 lakh per month. The State government had announced a policy in this regard to carrying out such work on a cloud rate contract,” Bhimale said.

 “However, the civic body hired the server at an inflated cost bypassing the State policy. It clearly indicates misappropriation in the server project,” Bhimale further added.

Justifying his allegation, Bhimale said, “The LED for street lights plan was supposed to save money in electricity bills. So, the civic administration pushed it by replacing old street light bulbs with new LED lights. Now, it is revealed that the project is not financially viable.”

While awarding the contract to a private company for this project, rules were bypassed. The Prime Minister Office (PMO) wrote a letter seeking an explanation for such anomalies in the LED project. We have replied to the letter. We want a probe into the issues raised in the letter and action against responsible persons,” he further added.