Facing one of the strongest attacks ever launched by the opposition against his government, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis today announced that senior IAS officer Radheshyam Mopalwar has been removed from his post as managing director of Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation. It was alleged that he was mediating in a land deal.
The announcement was made in the state legislature as heated debates raged over the issue and the opposition demanded Mopalwar's immediate suspension. The CM then informed that he had issued orders for Mopalwar's removal. There will be an inquiry into the allegations against him and a report will be submitted in a month's time. Mopalwar, a high profile IAS officer, was heading MSRDC, which is involved in acquiring land for the Mumbai-Nagpur Samruddhi Corridor Expressway project.
Senior congress leader and former CM Prithiviraj Chavan raised concern over Fadnavis' credibility and said that the chief minister was shielding the bureaucrat. “How can the chief minister sleep soundly when all this is happening?” asked Chavan. He demanded the immediate sacking of Mopalwar.
The opposition also claimed that the prime minister's office had sent seven reminders to the state government to carry out an inquiry into the allegations against Mopalwar.
Fadnavis, upset that his integrity was being questioned, gave an equally strong point-by-point reply. The CM explained how the “leaked conversation in which Mopalwar is allegedly heard mediating a land deal” took place during Congress-NCP government's tenure. He also pointed out how Mopalwar continued to rise in the bureaucracy during Congress-NCP regime. “I want to ask you, how could you sleep when all this was going on during your tenure,” Fadnavis asked Prithviraj Chavan.
Fadnavis has said that the audio clip will be sent to a forensic lab for analysis and the inquiry report will be tabled before him in a month's time.
The clip against Mopalwar had first surfaced on a WhatsApp group of farmers affected by the Samruddhi Corridor Expressway project.
