the goan I network
PANAJI
The Congress on Sunday hit out at the state government for disrespecting democratic and elected institutions such as the Corporation of the City of Panaji and routing the capital’s development fund flows through autocratic and unaccountable corporation like the Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation and the Imagine Panaji Smart City Development Ltd.
Goa Pradesh Congress Committee president, Girish Chodankar, told the media at a press conference on Sunday that nearly Rs 2000 crores of expenditure is being routed through these two corporations run by government appointees who were not accountable to anyone.
“The CCP which has 30 corporators elected by over 22,000 voters of Panjim meanwhile is getting a meagre Rs 30 crore to run Panaji’s affairs,” Chodankar said, and sarcastically urged the government to end the farce of holding elections for the CCP and instead conduct them for the GSIDC and IPSCDL.
Chodankar trained his guns at former Panaji MLA, Siddharth Kuncolienkar, who is chairman of IPSCDL and vice-chariman of GSIDC, saying he was directing the show at the these two corporations with no democratic accountability whatsoever.
Smart City funds allocated by the Centre for all other cities in the country are routed through the local self-governing municipalities and corporations except in the case of Panjim where Kuncolienkar is being foisted by the state government.
“The Smart City project is a milking cow for this BJP government,” Chodankar said, adding that this peculiar arrangement by which the elected body is bypassed has been resorted to because the BJP has no political control of the CCP, even though its coalition partner controls the body.
The ruling group in the CCP owes allegiance to former minister Atanasio alias Babush Monserrate, who a few months ago joined the Goa Forward Party (GFP) to become its vice-president.
The GFP led by TCP Minister Vijai Sardesai is a key coalition partner in the Manohar Parrikar-led government.
The ruling group of corporators in the CCP had on Saturday threatened to launch a hunger-strike against what the mayor Vithal Chopdekar had alleged was the Commissioner Ajit Roy’s (IAS), deliberate non-cooperation with the elected body.
