Shiv Sena pays off `5 lakh funeral bill
Putting an end to the controversy, Shiv Sena finally paid the cost of security arrangements made for the funeral of late party chief Bal Thackeray to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Thursday.
Party secretary Anil Desai forfeited a cheque of `5 lakh to additional municipal commissioner Rajiv Jalota at the civic headquarters.
The issue of Bal Thackeray’s funeral expenses had snowballed into a controversy after the BMC administration tabled a proposal to the civic standing committee asking for the approval to bear the cost from tax-payers’ money.
According to civic officials, the local police had asked them to install close circuit television cameras and LED screens for crowd monitoring and other equipment for security reasons during the funeral day. But, since all the arrangements were to be made soon, there was very little time to invite tenders for them and hence the work was awarded without inviting tenders. However, objecting strongly to the proposal, the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) offered to bear the cost
of security arrangements. MNS group leader Dilip Lande also lambasted the Shiv Sena for failing to pay the sum.
Civic standing committee chairman Rahul Shewale said, “We decided to pay up and end the matter as people started playing politics over it. It was the state government’s responsibility to bear all expenses as they had asked to make security arrangements. Instead, they imposed it on the BMC.”
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