Dhas accuses Munde of ₹75-crore graft

State food and civil supplies minister Dhananjay Munde, under intense pressure to resign from the state cabinet for his close ties with the alleged mastermind of the Beed sarpanch's murder, is under the lens once again.

- Faisal Malik

MUMBAI:

BJP MLA Suresh Dhas, who has been leading the charge against Munde in connection with the sarpanch murder case, on Wednesday alleged that government money meant for road construction worth around ₹75 crore was released when Munde was guardian minister of Beed even though none of the work was done. Dhas, MLA from Ashti in Beed district, said the funds were meant for road work in Parli and Ambejogai tehsils in Beed district when the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government was in power in the state, and the Covid-19 pandemic was at its peak.

Addressing the media in Beed, Dhas presented documents relating to the release of government funds for roads in the two tehsils. Munde, who was social justice minister in the MVA government from November 2019 to June 2022, was also guardian minister of Beed district. The funds were allocated by the District Planning and Development Committee (DPDC) and road development programme of the state government when Munde was guardian minister, Dhas said. The guardian minister of a district can use his veto to divert funds to particular tehsils.

Dhas said ₹37.70 crore was released by the DPDC on five occasions, for five different works in Parli and Ambejogai tehsils. The bills were cleared on December 30, 2021 for ₹2.31 crore; March 18, 2022 for ₹10.98 crore; March 25, 2022 for ₹6.59 crore; March 26, 2022 for ₹16.48 crore; and March 31, 2022 for ₹1.34 crore. "The bills were cleared by the public works department even though not a penny's worth of work was undertaken. Sanjay Munde, who was deputy engineer then, was given charge as executive engineer to clear the bills on June 2022," he alleged.