Mumbai: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA and former minister Eknath Khadse raised a query in the Assembly about alleged corruption related to the claims of a contractor of killing 3.19 lakh rats in seven days in Mantralaya alone. He said that the company that was awarded the contract claimed it killed all the rodents in a week even though the Brihanmumbai Muni-cipal Corporation (BMC) had mentioned in the past that it took two years to kill six lakh rats. 

In his reply, the minister of state for the general administration department, Madan Yeravar, said that the government would look into the matter. 

Pointing at discrepancies in the claim by the appointed company of having killed 3,19,400 rats in Mantralaya, Mr Khadse demanded an inquiry, stating. “There was a survey that found 3,19,400 rats in Mantralaya. A work order was also issued in this regard by the general administration department. The company was given six months to kill the rats. But it claimed it killed them in just seven days.” 

Analysing the company’s claim further, Mr Khadse said, “This means 45628.57 rats were killed every day. The 0.57 must be newborns.” 

To the sound of laughter in the House, the former minister added. “It also means the company killed 31.68 rats in one minute. Their weight was around 9,125.71kg and every day one truck was required to take them out of Mantralaya. But it is not known where they were disposed.” 

Mr Khadse also said that the BMC has made a separate claim of killing six lakh rodents in two years’ time. “There is a discrepancy in the claim by the company,” he said. 

The former minister suggested that the government could have kept 10 cats in Mantralaya instead of giving the contract to the company. 

Mr Khadse also mentioned that Dharma Patil, the farmer from Dhule who consumed poison in Mantralaya and died in January, used the poison kept in Mantralaya to kill rodents. “The rat poison was brought to Mantralaya without permission. If the company had permission to use the poison for rodents, did it have permission to keep the poison in Mantralaya,” he asked