Mumbai
On Thursday, maverick BJP leader Eknath Khadse had said on the floor of the House that the government had claimed to have killed more 3,19,400 rats in seven days at the cost of Rs 4.80 lakh.
Updated : Mar 24, 2018, 05:20 AM IST
The rat race for political upmanship is never ending — the BJP spokesperson on Friday denied killing of over three lakh rats in and around the Mantralaya within a week, saying the number applied to rat poison pills and not the rodents themselves.
On Thursday, maverick BJP leader Eknath Khadse had said on the floor of the House that the government had claimed to have killed more 3,19,400 rats in seven days at the cost of Rs 4.80 lakh. He demanded that this rat scam be probed into.
Khadse based his rousing accusation on documents obtained under the Right To Information Act, accessed by DNA. Rubbishing Khadse's claim, MLA and spokesperson Ram Kadam told the media on Friday that the government had floated the tender for placing poisonous tablets to control the rat populations. However, the documents in DNA's possession show that the tender was floated to 'eradicate rats', with no mention of poisonous tablets. Khadse says he spoke on the basis of government information alone. "This information has been provided to me by BJP MLA Charanbhau Waghmare," he said. "If the government claims there were over three lakh tablets not the rats, then how many rats were killed?"
DNA also checked about pest control terminology with a senior official from Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's Pest Control department. "In BMC, we use the term 'rat menace control'. This document clearly says that over three lakh rats were eradicated," he said.