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Mumbai: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader MLA Adv. Ashish Shelar, on Wednesday, alleged that the contract of procuring e-buses for the BEST has been awarded to a company that is receiving funding from a Pakistani agent. Shelar claimed that the agent has been declared an international scamster, not just by some countries but also by the Union of European Nations (EU) and the Panama Papers. Adv. Shelar made this serious allegation in the Assembly on Wednesday.
Shelar also revealed information about how nearly Rs.1,000 crore bamboo forests had disappeared from Maharashtra and also how the government was indirectly helping companies contribute to environmental pollution in Mahul. This created a major stir in the Assembly.
MLA Adv. Ashish Shelar strongly criticised the government for its failures in the environment sector. He was talking at the section-wise discussion of the budget in the Assembly. Recently, it was decided to add new e-buses to BEST’s fleet. The first tender was issued for 200 buses only. Later this number was increased to 900 buses and now it has gone up to 1,400 buses.
“It is a different matter whether this decision was taken after conducting any survey and whether these buses are fit to ply on Mumbai roads. I will refrain from talking about it at this moment. But I will emphasize that the company, that has been awarded the contract, is a matter of concern”, said MLA Adv. Ashish Shelar.
Shelar said that it was decided to procure 1,400 e-buses for BEST from London-based Causis E-Mobility. The state government, in the presence of environment minister Aaditya Thackeray and industries minister Subhash Desai, signed the contract on October 1, 2021, for Rs, 2,800 crores.
“The CEO of this company is a Canadian citizen named Tumuluri. Tumuluri has been declared an international scammer. As India has declared Nirav Modi as a conman, similarly Tumuluri has been declared as an international scammer and the main culprit in scams worth crores of rupees by Malta, Canada and the union of European nations,” said Shelar. Various serious allegations have been levelled against him and the Supreme Court (SC) in Canada has also made serious declarations about him, which were read out by MLA Adv. Ashish Shelar while presenting the details about his offences to the Speaker.
Also, two other major investors in this company are being named in the Panama Papers. Among them is Shaukat Ali Abdul Gafoor, who is a Pakistani agent working in Libya (Shelar showed his photograph with former Pakistani President Parvez Musharraf). He is also the key supplier of weapons for the Hawala racket.
The other investor in this company is Asad Ali Shaukat who is also a Pakistani living in Dubai. He is also one of the key operators of the Hawala racket. Why did the state government reach out to a company which has investments from such investors, to procure its e-buses, questioned MLA Adv. Ashish Shelar.
