Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s announcement that the State-run Bharat Petroleum Corporation limited (BPCl) would bear the cost of maintaining the “Akhand Jyot”(eternal flame) at the memorial of late Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray at Shivaji Park here, has sparked a controversy in Maharashtra, with the Opposition Congress and NCP slamming the Centre for its decision.
At a function organised on Monday to dedicate the Bharat Petroleum’s Crude Distillation Unit of Mumbai Refinery to the Nation, Padhan had said that the BPCl would henceforth bear the cost - amounting to Rs12 lakh per per year - to maintain “Akhand Jyoti” at the Shivaji Park in north-central Mumbai.
“The BPCl and HPCl had together developed the flame (Akhand Jyot) at the Thackeray memorial. Now, the BPCl will take up the responsibility of annual maintenance of the eternal flame,” the minister had said.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has so far been spending Rs1 lakh per month on the maintenance of the “Akhand Jyot” . The minister’s announcement that the BPCl would maintain the “Akhand Jyot” came in the wake of representations separately made by Shiv Sena MP Rahul Shewale and BMC to the BPCl management.
Both the Opposition Congress and NCP came down heavily on the minister and the Centre for facilitating the misuse of BPCl’s CSR funds for maintaining the flame at the memorial of late Thackeray. “How can CSR funds meant for people be misused for maintaining the memorial of a political leader. The common man would have to foot the bill. This is totally unacceptable to us” Maharashtra Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant said. When his attention was drawn to the fact that the Government is also bearing the cost of the Akhand Jyot at the Hutatma Chowk in south Mumbai, he said, “Both are different. Hutatma Chowk has been developed in memory of martyrs, while the one at Shivaji Park is a Thackeray memorial”.
NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik charged that the decision to let BPCl maintain the “Akhad Jyot” was blatant misuse of CRS funds by the government undertaking. “On one hand you (the centre) slash subsidy for lPG cylinders, while on other hand you let BPCl maintain the Akhand Jyot at the Thackeray memorial. The Centre must spell out what CSR exactly means,” Malik said.