New Delhi: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has declared Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis’s 'Varsha' bungalow as a defaulter.

According to a reply to an RTI query filed by activist Shakeel Ahmed Shaikh, the BMC has stated that the Chief Minister's official bungalow is yet to pay water bills worth Rs 7,44,981.

The RTI report further revealed that the official bungalows of several state ministers, including CM Devendra Fadnavis, haven’t paid bills worth Rs 45 lakh.

The municipal corporation in the list named 18 Maharashtra ministers, including Pankaja Munde, Sudhir Mungantiwar, and Diwakar Rawte.

The list includes Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar’s ‘Devgari’ bungalow that has defaulted on Rs 4,45,055 in water bills, Transport Minister Diwakar Rawte’s ‘Meghdoot’ bungalow that failed to pay bills worth Rs. 1,61,719 and Child Development Minister Pankaja Munde’s bungalow that defaulted on bills worth Rs 35,033.

Names of Ashish Shelar, Subhash Desai, Eknath Shinde, Chandrashekhar Bavankule and Mahadev Jankar was also mentioned in the list of defaulters.

Apart from the minister’s official residences, the state government’s official guest house – ‘Sahyadri’- also has pending bills amounting to Rs 12,04,390. Most of these bills have been pending since 2018.

Hitting out at the authorities over their failure to take action, RTI activist Shakeel Ahmed Shaikh said, "If the bills of Chief Minister's and other State Minister's bungalows are not paid in time, then how can you expect a common people to do it? If the common people fail to pay their bills, their water connection is disconnected. The same should be done to all the defaulters including Chief Minister's official bungalow."

Assembly elections in Maharashtra are scheduled to take place in October this year. Fadnavis will be helming the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s campaign this time. The issue of the pending bills will definitely give the opposition ammunition to take on the ruling coalition in the state.