PANAJI
A group of Opposition Congress functionaries on Monday confronted the official of the Auditor General's office at Porvorim on the issue of audit, rather the lack of it, of funds spent on several works executed by the Imagine Panaji Smart City Development Limited (IPSCDL).
The Congress leaders met Sunil Kumar, audit officer CAG, and demanded audit reports of 47 projects of the Smart City. They warned that if these works are not put through a special audit, they would approach the courts.
It is more than seven years but no audit of IPSCDL has been carried out, former bureaucrat and Congress leader Elvis Gomes alleged.
Speaking to the media after meeting the CAG official, Gomes alleged that the 'smart roads’ being built had already seen four trucks taken down with the roads caving in.
He also alleged that the 'Smart City Mission' guidelines were being flouted and wondered how the SCM Secretary at the Centre was overlooking the scam of nearly Rs 1,000-crore.
Gomes, who was accompanied by another Congress leader Janardhan Bandari, also said that the Mission guidelines that smart-city works should be citizen-centric was not only being violated but information on projects was being kept under wraps.
Bhandari, meanwhile, slammed the IPSCDL for failing to plan the execution of work resulting in hardships to people as well as tourists. He also alleged that the BJP-led government was "looting money" through the works executed for the smart city project which will eventually lead to sub-standard work.
