MARGAO
Bureaucrat-turned-politician, Congress leader Elvis Gomes, has stated that the annual ritual of observing Vigilance Awareness Week is meaningless, with the government dismantling every vigilance mechanism, rendering it weak in tackling corruption in Goa to the extent that people have lost faith in it.
Claiming that an estimated 9,000 complaints were lying unattended in the vigilance department, Gomes said the government was not showing any interest in acting on reports of investigations carried out by institutions dealing with vigilance matters, such as Lok Ayukta, ACB, and the department itself.
“Last year, the Superintendent of CBI’s ACB was shunted out of Goa overnight for telling the media that his office had received zero cases during that year, indicating that Goans had higher tolerance for corruption. The Prevention of Corruption Act has been amended to allow the government discretionary powers on whether to proceed in any matter or not. Political connections can thus save one,” Gomes said, alleging a breakdown in the vigilance mechanism rendering it incapable of dealing with the rising cases of corruption in the state.
