Charity commission to keep an eye on Lalbaugcha Raja donations

Mumbai: After complaints of financial irregularities were reported from the famous Lalbaugcha Raja, the charity commission has sent a notice to the iconic Ganesh mandal and asked that all the funds collected over the next 10 days of the festival should be counted before the officials of the charity commissioner’s office.

Three officials have been appointed for the same and they will literally be standing guard over all donations made till the final visarjan day.

The Lalbaugcha Raja collects an average of Rs 6 crore per year in cash and almost 5kg of gold in the form of donations.

The notice was sent by the commission after almost a decade long battle waged by Bala Vengurlekar, who had once visited the mandal but was put off by the absolute lack of monitoring over the donations.

Mr Vengurlekar said, “Lalbaugcha Raja is one of the most sought after Ganpati mandal in almost all of Maharashtra. When I saw the manner in which the money is being collected and the fact that there was absolutely no one to monitor the amount of wealth that the Lalbaug trust earns during this festival, I began to pursue the issue eight years ago.”

Mr Vengurlekar’s doggedness finally paid off, as the commission sent a notice to Lalbaugcha Raja on August 22 (a copy of which is with this newspaper), in which it has been categorically mentioned that the process of the donation will be monitored by a three-member team comprising of R. H. Kumbhar, S. Thoraghvyankar and Gopu Natraj, who will keep a close eye on every paisa that sees its way to the mandal.

However, the president of the Lalbaug committee, Mr Balasaheb Kamble seemed to be unaware of such a notice. When contacted and asked about the allegations, he said, “We, at the Lalbaugcha Raja, are extremely transparent. The money and the jewellery is donated in front of lakhs of people. We nothing to hide and the media is welcome to record all the 10 days so that there is evidence about how much money and jewellery is collected.”