A spot inspection of a public market by Public Works Department officials turned into a street brawl between BJP and Congress supporters in Belagavi on Monday, each accusing the other of playing politics over the issue.
Public Works officials from Bengaluru arrived at the Rani Channabhairadevi Tinisu Katte food street in Goaves after an internal audit report reported some discrepancies in the collection of rent and non-collection of GST, among other issues.
The officials went around each one of the 55 shops collecting details of all shop owners and copies of documents from the shopkeepers.
Some BJP workers tried to obstruct the inspection saying that the visit has been politically motivated as Public Works Minister Satish Jarkiholi ordered it due to his differences with BJP MLA Abhay Patil.
Supporters of Satish Jarkiholi in turn shouted at the BJP workers saying that Mr. Patil is involved in large-scale irregularities and has misused government funds.
The audit report said that the local Public Works division officers have carried out wrong assessment of rent along with non-consideration of additional areas leading to a loss of ₹5.3 lakh, failed to collect ₹6.77 lakh GST and had short-collected security deposit of ₹2.6 lakh.
The inspection has been ordered after some residents and members of Belagavi City Corporation raised objections regarding allotment of shops and also, violation of construction guidelines.
The former city corporation member Deepak Jamkhandi, Aam Aadmi Party leader Rajiv Topannanavar and others have written to the State government accusing Mr. Patil of violating norms by allotting shops to his followers and party office-bearers, in an opaque manner.
Mr. Jamkhandi, who was present during the inspection, said that Mr. Patil has falsely claimed that the shops will be given to women from deprived communities. But the shops have all gone to prosperous and politically well-connected families, he said.
He also said that the commercial complex has been built with Public Works Department funds and the city corporation is managing it, but Mr. Patil has falsely claimed that it has been built with his local area development funds. He said that some of the shops have been allotted to women belonging to the families of civil contractors who built the complex.
Mr. Topannanavar told the officials that there have been large-scale irregularities, including misappropriation of funds and bribery.
He also said that the officials have violated a rule that no permanent structure should be allowed within 25 metres of the Raja Kaluve canals. But they have built the complex right over the canal.
He said that most of the shops are not run by the original allottees. “They have sub-let them to others who have sub-let them to some others. This shows that a lot of money has changed hands illegally,” he said.
Meanwhile, a member of the team said that another round of inspection will be conducted on Tuesday and a report submitted to the government in a few days.
