the goan I network
PANAJI
Tired of the Imagine Panaji Smart City Development Limited (IPSCDL) project not being transparent in its functioning, Panjim MLA Atanasio (Babush) Monserrate on Monday said that he would take up the issue in the upcoming Assembly session.
Upset with the way the IPSCDL was functioning, Monserrate told “The Goan” that he had scheduled a meeting with the MD and CEO of IPSCDL Swayandipta Pal Chaudhuri for Monday, but fifteen minutes before the meeting could start, Chaudhuri informed the legislator by phone that the Chief Minister had asked that the meeting be cancelled.
“I can’t understand how the Chief Minister is involved in IPSCDL? According to central government norms, it is the MLA of the area, the mayor, and representatives of other groups who have to be a part of the committee, not the Chief Minister. But if Pramod Sawant wants to come into the picture, so be it, as long as Panjimites are given a presentation on whatever projects IPSCDL wants to undertake,” said the Panaji MLA.
Monserrate also slammed Imagine Panaji Smart City Development Limited officials for not putting up signages on sites where work was being undertaken.
“They need to put up details like when the project was started, to whom the contract was given, and the duration and cost of the project,” Monserrate said, adding that it was only after his instructions that they put a board in two or three places where work was on-going, including Miramar.
“The project cost is something like Rs 12 crore, with 50% coming from the Centre and 50% coming from the state, so Panjimites have a right to know the details,” he said.
Monserrate says he has written a letter to the CM to arrange a presentation for Panjimites, so that everyone is on board with what’s happening.
The Panaji MLA also rued the fact that Imagine Panaji Smart City Development Limited did not have a garbage treatment plant for the city in its plans.
“Beautifying the capital city comes second, infrastructure comes first. Our infrastructure in Panaji is crumbling. People are falling in potholes in Panaji, but Imagine Panaji Smart City Development Limited isn’t prioritizing these things,”
he said.
CEO of IPSCDL aswerable only to me, not MLAs: Sawant
PANAJI: Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Monday said, the CEO of Imagine Panaji Smart City Development Corporation (IPSCDL) Swayamdipta Pal Chaudhuri is answerable only to the chairman, which is himself, and not to other MLAs.
“How can a CEO answer each and every MLA on the issue,” Sawant said in response to the row over the reported meeting called by Panaji MLA Atanasio (Babush) Monserrate with Chaudhuri and other officials of the Corporation on Monday being called off.
“It is my prerogative. I can take the review since the department is under me. If any MLA or the CCP Mayor has any issue about the project he has to approach to me,” Sawant said.
