PANAJI
Aam Aadmi Party has demanded a "white paper" from the CM Pramod Sawant-led BJP government with details of works completed at the "Sarkar Tumchya Dari" events.
A press release on Saturday stated that AAP also demanded that BJP pay and not use the taxpayers' money for their campaign.
"In a recent media report, it was revealed that a whopping sum of Rs 12.43 crore was spent by the government on event management for the outreach programme Sarkar Tumchya Dari," said Rahul Mhambre, AAP Goa convenor.
"The news of Rs 12.43 crore being spent for the event is shocking. This is nothing but a scam. What exactly is being done at the event that it is costing Rs 31 lakh per event?", questioned Mhambre.
"CM Pramod Sawant should produce a white paper with details of works completed at these events. With each programme of six hours costing Rs 31 lakhs, that is more than Rs 5 lakh per hour. This money should be recovered from BJP as it is nothing but an election campaign at taxpayers’ expense", alleged Mhambre.
"AAP had already said it was a cheap imitation of Arvind Kejriwal's doorstep delivery of service schemes in Delhi. AAP also pointed out that "Sarkar Tumchya Dari" is BJP's pre-election propaganda to lure the voters," said Valmiki Naik, AAP vice president.
Naik further said, "The irony is that the government claims there is no money to pay the beneficiaries of schemes like Griha Aadhar and DSS, but is wasting money on such propaganda events where the CM has been seen making political attacks on opposition leaders".
AAP leader Adv Amit Palekar said, "Considering how much money the government spent on its PR campaign, Goans could've got ration, water, electricity for free, unemployment allowance, and digital taxi meters for taxi operators".
"Post Covid pandemic, the business and the common man in Goa is still struggling to break even to the pre-Covid period. The small-time businessman, private employees, the taxi operators, the auto-rickshaw owners, motorcycle pilots, the fruit and vegetable vendors, the fisherman, small restaurants, guest house owners are still struggling to pay the power arrears, EMI’s, insurance, licence fees etc. But these people are not the priority of the government," said Palekar.
Palekar further said, "Earlier, the government had spent crores of rupees on the organisation of Goa@60 programmes. While crores of rupees have been spent on these programmes, the common man’s needs are systematically ignored".
