Chhagan Bhujbal

Chhagan Bhujbal
छगन भुजबळ
5th Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra
In office 18 October 1999 – 23 December 2003
Preceded by	Gopinath Munde
Succeeded by	Vijaysinh Mohite–Patil
8th Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra
In office 8 December 2008 – 10 November 2010
Preceded by	R R Patil
Succeeded by	Ajit Pawar
Minister of Home Affairs
In office 18 October 1999 – 23 December 2003
Preceded by	Gopinath Munde
Succeeded by	R R Patil
Minister of Public Works
In office 1 November 2004 – 26 September 2014
Preceded by	Vijaysingh Mohite-Patil
Succeeded by	Eknath Shinde
Personal details
Born	(1947-10-15) 15 October 1947

Chhagan Bhujbal (born 15 October 1947) is a ^[1] politician from the state of Maharashtra, India. Bhujbal was Minister of Public Works & Special Assistance Department, (Excluding Public Undertaking) Maharashtra State and Guardian Minister, Nashik District; Member of Legislative Assembly, Yeola Assembly ; Constituency. .;.^[2][3]

Political career

Bhujbal, along with 16 others, have been booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Indian Penal Code recently in connection with alleged irregularities in awarding contracts for construction of the new Maharashtra Sadan building in New Delhi, a Road Transport Office in Kalina and a state guest house in Malabar Hill.

Bhujbal started his political career with the Shiv Sena party. He left the party in 1991 and joined the Indian National Congress. Later, after the Indian National Congress leader Sharad Pawar decided to split from the Congress and form his own party, the Nationalist Congress Party, Bhujbal went along with him.

Bhujbal is an Other Backward Class (OBC) leader and has mass base in Maharashtra. He belongs to Mali caste. Bhujbal started his political career from Shiv Sena in the 1960s. Before entering politics he was a vegetable vendor in Byculla Market where his mother was selling fruits with a small shop. After Diploma in Mechanical Engineering from VJTI, Bombay and being influenced by Shivsena philosophy and more particularly, by the die-hard personality of Shivsena Supremo Shri Balasaheb Thackeray, Bhujbal was evolved into a hard core Shiv Sainik.

Before he was elected as Shivsena Corporator in 1973, Bhujbal had already established his reputation as outspoken, dare devil and fearless leader of the Sena brigade. During his work as Corporator, Bhujbal maintained consistent contact, communication with rank and file of his constituency and its neighbourhood.

Between 1973–1984, Bhujbal became the undisputed leader of the Shivsena-led opposition in the Mumbai Municipal Corporation. He was amongst initial members of Shiv Sena and worked enthusiastically to spread Shiv Sena in nooks and corners of Maharashtra. He was duly rewarded for hard work put in party building.

He first became a Corporator in BMC & was later elected as Mayor of Mumbai. He was in Shivsena for 25 years and rose from Shakha Pramukh (Branch Head) and worked twice as Mayor of Mumbai. He was amongst earliest MLA's of Shivsena elected from Mazgaon first in 1985 & again in 1990.It is these endearing qualities that helped Bhujbal become the first twice-elected Mayor of India's urbs prima – Mumbai between 1985–1991.

To the city of Mumbai, where he spent his childhood and got his early bearings for survival despite all odds, Bhujbal wanted to offer a fitting payback on assuming Mayorship of the city. Being devoted to the cause of Marathi speaking community and Mumbai's beautification, he evolved his campaign for 'Sundar Mumbai, Marathi Mumbai'.

As part of this campaign, Bhujbal took bold steps to contain the rapid concretisation and pollution that was beginning to threaten Mumbai. He initiated a campaign for planting trees in open spaces and identifying public squares and gardens, while creating beautifully landscaped island-gardens at traffic signals and road dividers. This unique feat of injecting much-needed greenery into a polluted and cemented urban landscape earned him appreciation from all quarters.

With his landmark campaign to make Mumbai city green and pollution-free, Bhujbal actually pioneered the concept of public-private partnership, a revolutionary idea that would go a long way in helping the Mumbai Municipal corporation and later, the Government of Maharashtra

Corruption allegations

Stamp-Paper scam connection allegations

In 2004, The prime accused in the multicrore stamp paper scam, Abdul Karim Telgi during P-300 Brain Mapping tests admits that he had given payments to Bhujbal.^[4][5] Special Investigation Team (SIT) was probing this case.

CBI also questioned Bhujbal in connection with SIT's report,^[6] Bhujbal denied allegations of his nor his family members involvement in the scam and also declared the scientific tests were not reliable.

Maharashtra Sadan scam

Bhujbal Being minister of Public Works Department, PWD granted contract of Maharashtra Bhavan to non reputed contractor K S Chamankar without inviting tenders five years ago. Project estimates shot up from Rs 50 crore to Rs 150 crore. Chamankar sub-contracted same project to another company called Origin Infrastructure affiliated under Mr. Bhujabal. In addition to controversy, furniture for the new Maharashtra Sadan was procured from Ideen Furniture, a firm owned by Vishakha Pankaj Bhujbal and Shefali Samir Bhujbal who are Family members of PWD Minister. The same contractor was also awarded development rights of a slum on the Andheri RTO land. Which is worth close to Rs 1,000 crore if Chamankar decides to sell it at today's market price.^[7][8] In the recent Lok Sabha elections, he lost to opposition party candidate Hemant Godse with big difference.

Allotment of land in Kalina

He as a minister allegedly caused huge losses to the state exchequer by illegally leasing a prime plot of land at Kalina in Santacruz (East) to a private developer.ACB booked him and five others for irregularities.^[9]

Building construction in Navi Mumbai

In 2010, the developer had collected 10 per cent of the flat's total cost as booking amount but started no work.2,300 people who had booked houses in the project promoted by a realty company owned by the Bhujbal family at Kharghar, Navi Mumbai had paid an amount of Rs 44 crore. On the complaints from the flat seekers the Police booked them under IPC Sections related to cheating, criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust and relevant provisions of Maharashtra Ownership Flats Act. ^[10]

Criticism

Allegations of deteriorating law & order situation in Nashik

Nashik known to be a peaceful district, where law & order situation has collapsed under Bhujbals' political clout. It is witnessing recession in all sectors. Daylight robberies, armed attacks, chain-snatchings and setting of two- and four-wheelers on fire have become routine.^[11]

In view of the criticism of the home department, chief minister Prithviraj Chavan sent police commissioner Vinod Lokhande on leave for his dismal performance, while Samir Bhujbal demanded a CID probe into the collapse of law and order. But a senior Indian Police Service (IPS) official said that when each and every police official has been appointed on the family's recommendations, why should the home department be blamed? Chhagan Bhujbal must accept responsibility and initiate measures to restore the people's confidence.^[11]

Alleged misuse and mismanagement of trust property

In 2012, Mumbai Educational Trust (MET) filed a criminal complaint against Chhagan Bhujbal, alleging misuse and mismanagement of trust property for family-run furniture business and destruction of evidence in connection.^[12]

Attack on Alpha Marathi

On 23 Dec 2003 Chhagan bhujbal resigned from the post of Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, owning the moral responsibility of attack on Alpha Marathi office in Andheri, Mumbai. A group of workers belonging to the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) attacked the office of Alpha Marathi, which belongs to the Zee group. They were upset with the channel for airing a satire on Bhujbal's alleged role in the multi-crore fake stamp paper scam. NCP president Sharad Pawar told the media on Tuesday night that Bhujbal had sought his permission to resign on moral grounds. Chhagan Bhujbal handed over his resignation to then chief minister of Maharashtra Sushilkumar Shinde. ^{[13] [14]}

References

1. ↑ "Telgi scam: CBI grills Bhujbal". The Times Of India. 4 January 2005. Retrieved 26 October 2010. 
2. ↑ Chhagan Bhujbal : Chhagan Bhujbal The Prominent Deputy Chief Minister of Maharastra
3. ↑ Official WebSite of Nashik District
4. ↑ "Now, Telgi tapes talk of Sangma, Bhujbal". DNA. 
5. ↑ "Telgi admits payments to Bhujbal: SIT". rediff.com. Retrieved 10 February 2004. 
6. ↑ "Telgi scam: CBI grills Bhujbal". Times of India. 4 January 2005. Retrieved 4 Jan 2005, 11.  Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
7. ↑ "Maharashtra govt 'gifts' Rs 1,000cr to guesthouse builder". TOI.  |access-date= requires |url= (help)
8. ↑ "Maharashtra Sadan: Did Bhujbal flout PWD norms?". IBNLive. Retrieved 20 July 2012. 
9. ↑ http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Kalina-land-case-ACB-books-Bhujbal/articleshow/47591785.cms
10. ↑ http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/bhujbal-son-nephew-booked-in-duping-case/article7313942.ece
11. 1 2 "Bhujbals or cop chief to blame for Nashik woes?". Times of India. 31 January 2012. 
12. ↑ "Bhujbal accused of 'destroying evidence'". Times of India. 4 February 2012. Retrieved 4 Feb 2012. 
13. ↑ "NCP activists attack Zee TV office; Bhujbal resigns". The Hindu (Chennai, India). 24 December 2003. 
14. ↑ "Bhujbal quits after TV office attack". The Times Of India. 24 December 2003.