De-weeding work underway at the River Sal. Captured by : Santosh Mirajkar
MARGAO
De-weeding of the River Sal stretch passing through Benaulim near the Khareband bridge executed by the Water Resources Department has started on a controversial note.
Reason: Work on the de-weeding project is being executed by the WRD without inviting a tender by the department.
WRD Executive Engineer Zipson Miranda has claimed that the WRD is executing the work departmentally to remove “bottle necks” from the river by clearing the water hyacinth weed. Social worker Warren Alemao has charged the WRD for the blatant misuse of public funds.
“Corruption runs deep in Benaulim constituency. The WRD is exposed again. The WRD is blatantly misusing public funds by carrying out the work on River Sal without a tender, raising serious corruption concerns,” Warren said.
He took to the social media to say that this unscientific removal of hyacinth is a sham, as dumping it on the riverbanks will only lead to regrowth and hence wasting taxpayer money. “Is this incompetence or deliberate fraud? The people of Benaulim constituency demand accountability,” he said, while asserting that the people will not stay silent while Benaulim constituency suffers.”
WRD Executive Engineer Zipson Miranda, however, begged to differ. He pointed out that the WRD has not engaged any private contractor to execute the work of de-weeding the River Sal. “Whatever de-weeding work that is being carried out in the River Sal is being undertaken to remove bottlenecks from the river in view of the showers witnessed earlier this week,” he said.
He added; “The WRD has prepared estimates for the de-weeding of the River Sal. We have also put in a clause that the contractor will be liable to carry out the maintenance for a year. Once the estimates are approved by the higher ups, the department will float a tender to appoint a contractor.”
