Racket of new water lines via fake documents thrives in MBMC

BHAYANDAR: Transparent and responsive e-governance is merely a slogan for the Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC). This became evident after yet another scam tumbled out of the municipal closet in which hundreds of water connections had been issued on the virtue of fake identities and fabricated documents. The startling revelations were made by none other than Prashant Dalvi (BJP) who heads the water supply committee in the MBMC. After a span of six years, the MBMC on the virtue of its new water supply scheme had lifted the ban on issuance of new waterlines from 1, May, 2017. To balance the enhanced supply with the huge demand and to ensure distribution in a disciplined manner the then civic chief Dr Naresh Gite apart from creating an online platform for accepting applications, had inked certain guidelines including submission of pre-2010 documents for disbursal of new water lines. However, some middlemen were minting money by facilitating water lines to applicants by fabricating documents like domicile certificates, voter ID cards and birth certificates. “It is a serious issue. After receiving several complaints, I have requested the civic chief to conduct a probe and take action against those who are involved in the act.” While local politicians in a bid to play vote bank politics are piggybacking on new water lines, a section of civic personnel are also under the scanner for approving the applications sans mandated scrutiny and verifications of the submitted documents. Right from securing forms to uploading supporting documents and options of online payments, the MBMC has launched a software for the water connection assignment process.