WHERE HAVE THE RATS GONE: BJP MLA
Charan Waghmare was the one who exposed this scam
Charan Waghmare, legislator from Tumsar, Bhandara constituency is one hard-working leader who is committed to exposing frauds within the system. Papers regarding ‘eradication of rats’ tender were given to former revenue minister Eknath Khadse by Waghmare.
Speaking to Free Press Journal, Waghmare said he had worked hard to expose this scam. He had initially filed a query under Right to Information act, but had not filed on his official letter head as a legislator, in order to get authentic information.
“I filed a query under RTI and posed a few questions. I was told by a source of this mazdoor Sahakari Sanstha and the claims they have made are rather fictitious. Initially, officials refused to give me information, but I persevered and got it,” said Waghmare.
Once Waghmare was equipped with the information, he made rounds to the Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, because he has faith that the CM at least orders an immediate inquiry. However, there was no traction in this case and during Budget session he shared the rat RTI information with Khadse, who immediately raised a stink.
“See the papers, the tender was six months, the work order is for 2016 and the paper shows that eradication of rats was completed within seven days. The final work order bill shows dates, May 3 to May 10, 2016. Where have those rats gone?” questions Waghm are. Waghm are says he has followed the news once the scam was exposed by the media. He feels that it was not a right move by the Bharatiya Janata Party to run for cover-up without consulting Khadse, who he says is a reasonable leader.
He feels this should not divert from the real scam. BJP spokesperson Ram Kadam had tried to cover up the scam saying Rs 22 lakh were spent on tablets, pesticide and no rat was killed.
“Two basic questions need to be answered. If the rats were not killed then what happened to those so-called tablets and insecticide? We are back to the basic question: This tender was for eradication of rats so what exactly happened to those killed rats? Where is the evidence?” Waghmare has demanded an inquiry. Waghmare said that there are many ponzi and dummy companies like Vinayak Mazdoor Saharaki Sanstha, registered on a false address and the company head deceased, as FPJ had reported on March 24. Waghmare strongly believes that Fadnavis does take serious cognisance in such cases as government money is being wasted. “I agree the government has changed, but the rot is not clean. However, our CM is a man who takes strong action. I want the CM to order an inquiry as the case is getting murkier,” said Waghmare.
Waghmare wants CM Fadnavis to inquire who are the people running this sanstha today and whether they had a licence for pesticides or not. The permissions required for killing rats using poison require a sanction from the General Administration Department that comes directly under the CM. “The case now points out to a big fraud. The CM needs to know how much did the government really spend and money was taken by which people? More importantly, where have the rats disappeared, since their data clearly shows that rats were killed. So far, all the claims seem to be only on paper. Then what is the truth, people need to know,” demands Waghmare.