After the Eknath Shinde-led Mahayuti government recently suspended the health chief of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), the official has hit back with a letter to Mr. Shinde, in which he claimed he was suspended for refusing to do the “illicit bidding” of a Minister in the State government.
Bhagwan Pawar, who was Pune’s district health officer (DHO) during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, was recently sacked on grounds of having committed financial harassment, and on charges of alleged sexual harassment of women colleagues.
However, in a letter addressed to Mr. Shinde and Deputy CMs Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar, Dr. Pawar alleged that he was pressured to approve illegal tenders and other purchases made by a Minister in the State Cabinet, while highlighting his untarnished and exemplary service record of over 30 years in the Public Health Department.
He said there had been “no serious complaints or administrative inquiries” against him in all the time since his appointment as the health chief of the PMC in March 2023.
The case has turned into a political slanging match, with the Congress’ Leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly Vijay Wadettiwar accusing the Shinde government of scapegoating an honest officer for refusing to do the bidding of a corrupt Minister.
While not naming him, Mr. Wadettiwar’s barbs appeared to be directed at Public Health and Family Welfare Minister Tanaji Sawant, a leader from Mr. Shinde’s Shiv Sena faction.
“In this Mahayuti government, there is a ‘tender competition’. Corrupt officials who do illegal work on the orders of ministers are pampered while honest officials like Pune Municipal Health chief Dr. Bhagwan Pawar are suspended. The Minister has repeatedly called him and pressured him to do illegal work, and he was suspended for refusing to do it. Honest officials are exposing the true face of this corrupt government,” Mr. Wadettiwar posted on social media platform X.
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP-Sharadchandra Pawar) faction legislator Rohit Pawar asked whether the Minister Dr. Pawar had accused in his letter was Mr. Sawant.
“How long will CM Eknath Shinde protect such a corrupt minister? He has been involved in the ambulance scam in the past. Now, if tenders are being managed in this way, I urge ‘Doctor’ Eknath Shinde to perform a ‘surgery’ on this minister and cut him out of the State cabinet,” Mr. Rohit Pawar, who is veteran leader Sharad Pawar’s grand-nephew, said.
