High-Security Registration Plates: CM Fadnavis wrongly briefed by officials about charges, claims NCP (SP) leader Rohit Pawar

Rohit Pawar. File Pic/X

The Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP SP) leader Rohit Pawar on Monday said Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis was wrongly briefed by officials about the fees for high-security registration plates (HSRPs) and claimed that the company awarded the contract was involved in a scam, reported the PTI.

Talking to reporters in the Vidhan Bhavan premises, Rohit Pawar accused CM Fadnavis of lying that he has not stayed decisions taken by the previous government led by Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.

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'When Fadnavis and his deputies say all is well in the state, a Union minister's daughter is harassed, a former state minister's son is stopped from travelling to Bangkok, and his chartered flight is called back. The families of slain Massajog sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh and Somnath Suryavanshi, who died in Parbhani, await justice," he said, according to the PTI.

The NCP (SP) leader claimed that CM Fadnavis was wrongly briefed by his officials regarding fees for HSRPs and pointed out that two-wheelers in Gujarat were charged Rs 160 for the plates, but the price was Rs 450 in Maharashtra.

He further alleged that a Gujarat-based company, which was awarded the contract for HSRPs, is involved in a Rs 2,000 crore scam.

The government has made HSRPs mandatory for vehicles registered before April 1, 2019, to curb vehicle theft and bring uniformity in identification. The opposition parties have alleged that a high fee was being charged for these plates, an allegation denied by the Maharashtra government, citing the prices were on par with the other states.

Rohit Pawar further said the chief minister should explain why he stayed the lease of state transport buses, the Thane Creek beautification project, farm produce procurement, and tenders worth Rs 1,400 crore in the BMC and had ordered a probe into it.

He claimed that 16 appointments of Officers on Special Duty were scrapped because Fadnavis got reports that they were fixers.

"How did he know they were fixers, which ministers they worked for and what action has been taken?' he asked, as per the PTI.

Rohit Pawar said he has been highlighting scams of Rs 50,000 crore to Rs 60,000 crore in the previous Mahayuti government's PWD, health and other departments.

(with PTI inputs)