mumbai

Updated: Oct 21, 2016 23:39 IST

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party drew flak from friends and foes alike on the issue of awarding contracts to contractors whose names figured in the Mumbai roads scam, on Friday.

While the Congress alleged that the Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis led Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) awarded a metro construction contract to a contractor named in the road scam despite adverse opinion of state’s associate advocate general, ally Shiv Sena targeted BJP for giving contracts to tainted contractors in Nagpur civic body ruled by the latter.

Associate advocate general of the state, Rohit Deo, had criticised the appointment of J Kumar Infra Project as one of the contractors for two phases of metro lines in Mumbai.

Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant questioned BJP led government’s decision of allotting the Rs500 crore metro contract to J Kumar, one of the seven contractors constructing two lines of the rail project. It has also raised doubts over the appointment, despite reverse remarks.

“In the opinion submitted by Associate Advocate General Rohit Deo on August 4, it has been clearly stated that the MMRDA must make an objective assessment of the material about poor performance of the company as its participation in the tender process may prove to be subversive to public interest. The fact that an FIR has been registered against the company, and the blacklisting of the company by Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) should also been taken into consideration. Despite these remarks, the contract was awarded to the company,” said Sawant.

Sawant also alleged that the BMC was deliberately delaying the process of blacklisting the contractors named in roads scam probe, as government wanted the contractors to bag more projects.

Meanwhile, Sena youth wing chief Aaditya Thackeray also targeted the BJP over a similar issue.

Citing a news reports, Thackeray on Friday alleged that the BJP-ruled Nagpur Municipal Corporation was favouring the same contractors that the BMC had blacklisted for road works of inferior quality.

“Mumbai mein mafia, Nagpur mein maaf kiya?” the Yuva Sena leader tweeted, sharing a link to the news reports.

Local BJP leaders have been targeting the Shiv Sena-led BMC, alleging a massive “corruption mafia.”