Kalyan: A social worker named Sarita Khanchandani was attacked by a private civic contractor Ajay Shevani Ulhasnagar Maharashtra’s Thane district town for exposing alleged misuse of public funds.
after the incident Ulhasnagar Municipal Corporationis the main Leelabai Ashan Recently, an amount of Rs 10 lakh has been approved for gardening work on open plot near Sharda Castle Private Housing Society building located in Ulhasnagar-4 ward.
Khanchandani alleged that Ashan tried to use the sanctioned funds for garden work inside Sharda Castle and that contractor Shevani was also involved.
He claimed that the use of civil money on private property is illegal and, therefore, he objected.
But when he tried to expose it by making a video of the work, Shevani, a close aide of the mayor, assaulted him and snatched his mobile phone.
Following the incident, the local Vithalwadi police have booked Shevani under sections related to molestation and assault.
Khanchandani said that recently when he came to know that Shevani had sanctioned Rs 10 lakh for gardening work inside the building using his ties with the mayor, he decided to expose it.
He also obtained some information through RTI and also sent a written complaint regarding the same UMC He claimed that Commissioner Dr Raja Dayanidhi and senior civic officials did not take any action.
Khanchandani told TOI, “I am not against horticulture work, but because it is a UMC fund which should be used for public work and not for private society, I took it on Friday at 10.30 am when the work started. Decided to make a video of it, and expose those who looted public money.”
Khanchandani alleged that when he started recording the video of the garden work, Shevani slapped him and beat him, pushed him to the floor and also snatched his mobile phone.
He said that in self-defence, he also assaulted Shevani for attacking her, for which Shevani has now registered a non-cognizable offense against him.
When asked, Shevani told TOI, “The garden work has just started and I have not received a single penny from the corporation for the work. But Khanchandani started calling me corrupt person while making my video, which led to a scuffle. ”
“Khanchandani claims to be fighting for the protection of the environment and is opposing the work of the garden,” he said.
Interestingly, following criticism on social media, Mayor Lilabai Ashan claimed that Khanchandani was unnecessarily defaming her by making false allegations. He said the actual garden work with UMC funds is yet to begin near the same Sharda Castle building, in which a disused public toilet has been demolished.
Khanchandani, however, said that the mayor was making false claims to defend himself and in fact, as per the mayor’s claim, the building has no open spaces or public toilets for gardening work.
After the incident, the UMC has started an investigation into the matter.
UMC public relations officer Yuvraj Bhadane said, “In this regard, the UMC commissioner or other senior-level civic authority will conduct an inquiry and the engineers who did the contract work and sanctioned the fund will be held responsible, and if the contractor finds any fault. He will be blacklisted.”
after the incident Ulhasnagar Municipal Corporationis the main Leelabai Ashan Recently, an amount of Rs 10 lakh has been approved for gardening work on open plot near Sharda Castle Private Housing Society building located in Ulhasnagar-4 ward.
Khanchandani alleged that Ashan tried to use the sanctioned funds for garden work inside Sharda Castle and that contractor Shevani was also involved.
He claimed that the use of civil money on private property is illegal and, therefore, he objected.
But when he tried to expose it by making a video of the work, Shevani, a close aide of the mayor, assaulted him and snatched his mobile phone.
Following the incident, the local Vithalwadi police have booked Shevani under sections related to molestation and assault.
Khanchandani said that recently when he came to know that Shevani had sanctioned Rs 10 lakh for gardening work inside the building using his ties with the mayor, he decided to expose it.
He also obtained some information through RTI and also sent a written complaint regarding the same UMC He claimed that Commissioner Dr Raja Dayanidhi and senior civic officials did not take any action.
Khanchandani told TOI, “I am not against horticulture work, but because it is a UMC fund which should be used for public work and not for private society, I took it on Friday at 10.30 am when the work started. Decided to make a video of it, and expose those who looted public money.”
Khanchandani alleged that when he started recording the video of the garden work, Shevani slapped him and beat him, pushed him to the floor and also snatched his mobile phone.
He said that in self-defence, he also assaulted Shevani for attacking her, for which Shevani has now registered a non-cognizable offense against him.
When asked, Shevani told TOI, “The garden work has just started and I have not received a single penny from the corporation for the work. But Khanchandani started calling me corrupt person while making my video, which led to a scuffle. ”
“Khanchandani claims to be fighting for the protection of the environment and is opposing the work of the garden,” he said.
Interestingly, following criticism on social media, Mayor Lilabai Ashan claimed that Khanchandani was unnecessarily defaming her by making false allegations. He said the actual garden work with UMC funds is yet to begin near the same Sharda Castle building, in which a disused public toilet has been demolished.
Khanchandani, however, said that the mayor was making false claims to defend himself and in fact, as per the mayor’s claim, the building has no open spaces or public toilets for gardening work.
After the incident, the UMC has started an investigation into the matter.
UMC public relations officer Yuvraj Bhadane said, “In this regard, the UMC commissioner or other senior-level civic authority will conduct an inquiry and the engineers who did the contract work and sanctioned the fund will be held responsible, and if the contractor finds any fault. He will be blacklisted.”
.