Under mounting pressure from the Opposition parties, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday divested the 1995-batch IAS officer Radheyshyam Mopalwar of his post as the vice chairman and managing director of cash-rich Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) pending an inquiry into the serious allegations of corruption that the latter faced.
Significantly enough, Fadnavis’ announcement about Mopalwar being divested of the crucial post came after the Opposition displayed in the State Assembly a letter written by the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, to the State Chief Secretary seeking a report on the allegations that Mopalwar possessed disproportionate assets amounting to more than Rs 800 crore.
Till now, Mopalwar – in his capacity as the vice chairman and managing director of MSRDC -- was steering various key projects including the Rs 46,000 crore Nagpur-Mumbai Samruddhi corridor project, which is incidentally Fadnavis’sdream project.
Responding to the Opposition’s continued clamour for suspension of Mopalwar from his post, Fadnavis said: “Mopalwar is being divested from his post till such time the inquiry against him is not over. The inquiry will be completed in one month”.
Apart from a complaint of disproportionate assets amounting to Rs 800 crore made against him by BJP MlA Anil Gote, Mopalwar has come under a cloud over the 36 taped conversations that have surfaced. The tapes, purportedly containing the voice of Mopalwar, shows him striking deals for money.
In one of the purported telephonic conversations between him and a businessman. Mopalwar allegedly seeks a bribe for regularising 15,000 sq ft land at Borivali in north Mumbai. While displaying the CD of the conversation, former deputy chief minister and senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar had said in the State Assembly on Wednesday: “There are 36 such tapes in which Mopalwar is heard making deals”.
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