Nagpur: Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari has complained to the PMO seeking action against a senior bureaucrat in Maharashtra for “ïllegally taking over” the company implementing the Smart City project in Nagpur.
Gadkari wrote identical letters to the Minister of State in the PMO, Jitendra Singh, and the Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs, Hardeep Singh Puri, urging action against Nagpur Municipal Commissioner Tukaram Mundhe.
In his letters the union minister claimed that Tukaram Mundhe ‘illegally and unconstitutionally” took over as the CEO of the Nagpur Smart and Sustainable City Development Corporation Limited ( NSSCDCL) which is implementing the Smart City project in Nagpur.
Gadkari argued that Mundhe could not become the CEO of the body without the approval of the board of directors.
He claimed that Mundhe, after he became the CEO, reversed several decisions “taken unanimously by the Board of Directors such as cancellation of approved tenders, termination of contractual employees during Covid 19 situation, and misappropriation of funds of the company by introducing his signature in the current account maintained with the Bank of Maharashtra”.
Gadkari pointed out that the mayor of Nagpur, who is one of the nominee directors, had filed a criminal complaint against Mundhe.
Gadkari’s letters sought “”strict and necessary action” against Mundhe in order to stop him from “jeopardizing the Central government funded/Granted Nagpur smart city project”.
