After Rajpal calls for lit meet expenditure inquiry, ex-deputy mayor Desai says he will give Rs 82 L to sahitya parishad

Mayor vs former dy mayor

After Rajpal calls for lit meet expenditure inquiry, ex-deputy mayor Desai says he will give Rs 82 L to sahitya parishad

After Mayor Mohansingh Rajpal asked for an inquiry against 83rd Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan organiser Dr Satish Desai for possible misuse of funds, the latter said that while he was ready to face any investigation and had done no wrong, he would hand over Rs 82 lakh to the Maharashtra Sahitya Parishad.

The sahitya parishad will now take a decision on whether to accept the Rs 82 lakh or not in a meeting on September 5.

The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) had sanctioned Rs 50 lakh for the event. Rajpal is insisting on a detailed report on all the expenditure at the literary meet because he suspects the funds were misused.

Detailed report
Desai, who is a former deputy mayor and the founder of Punyabhushan Foundation, has been asked to submit the detailed report to the PMC.

About two months ago, Desai had submitted a total expenditure of Rs 1.74 crore to the PMC. But Rajpal is not satisfied with the accounts submitted by Desai.

"No details about the sponsors have been shown in the report," he said. "It is not fair if Desai has used the money meant for the sammelan for his foundation. We need transparency in the system."

Former mayor Shantilal Suratwala alleged that Desai did not show the total earnings from 46 sammelan donors. Rajpal is insisting on a detailed report of all the expenditure at the sammelan because he suspects the funds were misused.

Earlier in the day, Dr Neelam Gorhe, the Shiv Sena spokesperson, said Desai should give the disputed amount to the Maharashtra Sahitya Parishad, a premier literary organisation which had helped Desai organise the literary meet.