Suspended Pune City Health Commissioner claims he was pressured into approving illegal tenders by state minister

Following the Eknath Shinde-led Mahayuti government’s recent suspension of the Pune Municipal Corporation’s (PMC) Health Director, the latter wrote to Shinde, hitting back alleging that he was suspended for refusing “illegal orders” issued by a state government minister.

Bhagwan Pawar, who served as Pune’s District Health Officer (DHO) during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, was recently sacked over alleged financial harassment and sexual harassment of a female colleague.

But in his letter to Shinde, Deputy Chief Ministers Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar, Dr Pawar, while highlighting his unblemished and exemplary service record of over three decades in the public health department, alleged that he was pressured to approve illegal tenders and other purchases made by ministers in the state cabinet.

He said since he was appointed PMC’s health officer in March 2023, there have been “no significant complaints or administrative investigations” against him.

The incident has devolved into a political spat, with Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly Vijay Wadettiwar accusing the Shinde government of scapegoating honest officials who had refused the orders of a corrupt minister.

Though he did not name anyone, Wadettiwal’s scathing criticism was apparently aimed at Minister of Public Health and Family Welfare Tanaji Sawant, a leader from Shinde’s Shiv Sena faction.

“A ‘bidding war’ is going on in this Mahayuti government. Corrupt officials who do illegal work on the orders of ministers are being pampered while honest officials like Pune City Health Commissioner Dr Bhagwan Pawar are being suspended. The minister has called him multiple times and pressured him to do illegal work but he refused and hence was suspended. Honest officials are exposing the true face of this corrupt government,” Wadettiwar posted on social media platform X.

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP-Sharadchandra Pawar) MP Rohit Pawar asked whether Sawant was the minister whom Dr Pawar had criticised in his letter.

“For how long will Chief Minister Eknath Shinde protect such a corrupt minister? He has been involved in the ambulance scam in the past. If tenders are being managed like this, I urge ‘Doctor’ Eknath Shinde to perform ‘surgery’ on this minister and remove him from the state cabinet,” said Rohit Pawar, grand-nephew of veteran leader Sharad Pawar.