After clean chit, babu gets extn in MSRDC

Ignoring Opposition’s objections, the state on Wednesday ordered that senior IAS officer Radheshyam Mopalwar, who was to retire on Wednesday, will continue as vice-chairman and managing director of Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation for one more year.

Mopalwar made headlines when he was sent on leave last August after an audio clip surfaced in which he is allegedly heard striking a dubious deal involving a Rs 4-crore plot in Mumbai. Subsequently, the government ordered a probe by a three-member committee headed by former chief secretary Johny Joseph. The panel raised doubts on the authenticity of the tape and gave Mopalwar a clean chit. In December, the state reinstated him as MSRDC VC and MD.

Speaking to DNA, Mopalwar said he had received the government’s order about his extension. “My focus will be to meet the deadlines of these development projects.”

MSRDC is currently engaged in development projects worth Rs 60,000 crore including the Mumbai-Nagpur Super Communication Expressway (Rs 46,000 crore), Bandra Versova Sea Link (Rs 7,500 crore), Khandala-Pune highway work (Rs 5,000 crore) and a new bridge on Thane creek in Vashi (Rs 800 crore).