By IANS,
Mumbai : A Maharashtra Navnirman Sena leader Tuesday exhibited a fake PAN card issued in the name of a minister of the ruling coalition.
In a bid to drive home a point made by MNS chief Raj Thackeray about permits for migrants, party legislator Bala Nandgaonkar flashed before journalists here the bogus card, purportedly issued in the name of Congress’s Minister of State for Home Satej Patil.
“This is a PAN card which bears the name of (Minister) Satej Patil. For only Rs.400 you can get such a PAN card issued in anybody’s name. You can get it near CBD-Belapur,” Nandgaonkar said, referring to the IT department’s headquarters in Navi Mumbai from where PAN cards are issued.
Nandgaonkar – himself a former minister of state for home – said that “it was a very serious issue” and urged the government to look into it.
“Since an important official identity proof like this can be misused, MNS president Raj Thackeray has been demanding a proper permit system for people in Mumbai,” he said.
Nandgaonkar contended that besides migrants from other states, even illegal Bangladeshi or Pakistani nationals easily manage to get some kind of an identity proof to live in Mumbai unchecked.