MAPUSA
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Monday said a legal notice will be issued to Goa Forward Party President (GFP) Vijai Sardesai for levelling charges of an alleged scam worth Rs 2,000 crore in the Town and Country Planning department led by his government.
Sawant also said the GFP chief was trying to divert the attention of the people by making such wild allegations.
“He is unnecessarily trying to divert people’s mind. I will serve a legal notice to him. I will also seek a detailed inquiry into the allegations of scam of crores of rupees levelled by him,” Sawant said.
The chief minister was speaking to journalists at the sidelines of a function in Mapusa where Mapusa MLA Joshua D’Souza and Calangute MLA Michael Lobo were also present.
Speaking further, Sawant said the files pertaining to the TCP department do not come directly to the chief minister’s office and Sardesai was aware of the procedure.
“After I became the CM, he (Sardesai) was also the TCP minister and after him, two others have also become ministers. He is unnecessarily trying to divert people’s mind,” he said.
Sardesai recently, while welcoming the scrapping of the Section 16B of the TCP Act, had alleged that the Section 16B was misused by the Sawant-led government to convert large tracts of land.
He had also alleged that it was a big scam running to around Rs 2,000 crore.
The 16B of the TCP Act was introduced by the GFP chief when he was the TCP minister in the alliance led-government led by former chief minister Manohar Parrikar. The provision empowers the TCP board to change zoning of the land on case-to-case basis.
The provision had generated much controversy and some civil citizens had also challenged it in the High Court.
Incidentally, Sardesai had demanded scrapping of the Section 16B of the TCP Act in the monsoon session of the Goa Legislative Assembly held in July.
Last week, the incumbent TCP Minister Vishwajit Rane withdrew some new amendments made in the TCP Act and with it also announced scrapping of the controversial Section 16B of the TCP Act.
