While many other deserving officials and bureaucrats have to wait for getting allotment of Government accommodation, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has gone out of his way, and allotted government accommodation to seven of his Officers on Special Duty (OSD’s). This information was sought through RTI, filed by activist Anil Galgali. All OSD’s appointed by the CMO are from the outside cadre and there is no such Government Resolution existing for providing government accommodation for outside candidates.
Galgali had filed an RTI with the General Administration Department with regard to the allotment of Government accommodations to the OSD’s at the Chief Minister Office. In it’s reply GAD’s Under Secretary S. M. Dhule provided the said information. There is no such provision in the policy that was drafted in the 1995 for providing of Government accommodation to the officer’s and employees of the ‘outside cadre’. But Dhule in his reply has claimed that the Chief Minister has special rights to allot 10% of the available accommodation as a special case.
The premium accommodation was provided to Shrikant Bhartiya in Malabar Hill at the Rocky hill Towers that ad-measures 1635 square feet. The next to fall in line was Ravikiran Deshmukh and Kaustubh Dhavase, an ex-Spanco employee, who have been allotted accommodations measuring 830 Square feet at Aasavari Building in Churchgate whose flat numbers 103 and 104 respectively. But as per the reply, Kaustubh Dhavase has vacated his accommodation on the 20th February 2016. Another OSD Nidhi Kamdar has been allotted an accommodation admeasuring 750 Square feet in
Mandar -3 another high rise in Churchgate. Bandman’s Quarters at the prestigious Malbar Hill that ad-measures 700 Square feet each have been alloted to Sumit Wankhede, Ketan Pathak and Abhimanyu Pawar.
“All these seven OSD’s are paid lucrative salary per month as compared to many Class 1 officers. Now the Chief Minister has gone one step ahead and allotted them Government accommodations. All these officers are basically outsider’s and not from the Government cadre and this is creating ripples in the other Government officers who actually have to wait for years to get accommodated in such houses,” said Galgali.
