The discourse in political circles has recently veered towards 'commissions' in road works inviting furious reactions from a section of political leaders. Over the weekend newly elected MLA for Benaulim constituency Venzy Viegas opened Pandora's box when he publicly announced that contractors pay a 10 per cent commission to MLAs for PWD work in every constituency.
Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai instantly challenged anyone to prove that he has taken commission anytime during his 10-year career as an MLA. Also reacting was BJP leader and former Panaji MLA Sidharth Kuncalienkar asking Venzy to refrain from making a generalised statement.
While Venzy has made a sweeping statement across the board, commission on road contracts has been an open secret for decades. Probably, now that an MLA has come out in the open and gone all guns blazing, it may have ruffled a few feathers. Ironically, there is a thin line between commissions given and commissions not taken, which may have been overlooked.
A few first-time MLAs have been going about flexing their ambition of cleaning the system in an activism-infused hurry, which is not bad. The question is, how does it help to cleanse the overall system where kickbacks and corruption are deeply rooted affecting the quality of work. The issue of kickbacks on road works and contracts has been an open secret and Goa has witnessed a Rs 300 crore PWD scam and a tender scam. It is obvious why the PWD portfolio assumes such a lot of significance with senior ministers lobbying for it.
The fact of the matter is that refusing commissions on contracts is undoubtedly a humble gesture of sincerity from the public representative and speaks of their transparency, nothing beyond that. This is not enough to get us better infrastructure. The two AAP MLAs, the other being Cruz Silva in Velim, and Aldona’s Congress MLA Carlos Ferreira, instead of leveraging this to their advantage, must work together and make this a State issue.
Last month, Carlos Ferreira said that there was no scope for “commission” in developmental works and assured officials of a free hand to produce quality works. He also sought to fix accountability for works undertaken. That is a positive step.
Instead of making isolated statements against commissions that could fetch a few brownie points and attract eyeballs, the Opposition legislators must push for greater checks and balances across the board and dig deeper. The war against corruption cannot be fought randomly or sporadically, rather, there should be a unified plan. The immediate need of the hour is to fix responsibility on works undertaken, hold a review and expose the chinks in the system.
Goa has seen sub-standard and shoddy work with contractors going scot-free. It's time to seek accountability because not taking commission alone cannot guarantee quality work. What the three MLAs have done is exposed how the system works. What remains to be seen is how they proceed in providing better infrastructure in their respective constituencies.
