PANAJI
Revenue Minister Rohan Khaunte has said that he will write to the Chief Minister to reopen the investigations into the IDC scam which allegedly took place when Kavlekar was the Chairman of the Goa Industrial Development Corporation.
Khaunte was reacting to statements made by Opposition Leader Chandrakant Kavlekar on Wednesday, seeking a probe into the connections between the now disgraced additional collector Sabaji Shetye and Revenue Minister. “The government has to answer this. This government (BJP) claims that there is no corruption during their regime, be it the State or Centre. So now they have to reply on why and how this incident happened. BJP government has failed to tackle corruption, which is clearly shown by this incident. The CM has to reply to this. If the officer has any links with the minister, it has to be probed. Inquiry has to be conducted,” he demanded.
The Revenue Minister countered Kavlekar’s remarks, saying that his intentions of ‘cleansing’ the department and streamlining processes to reduce corruption are very clear.
“My position today… my priority today will be to ask our CM to hand over all these IDC scams to CBI. The man who draws up such associations should know where his own feet lie. With regard to what has happened over the last few days (referring to Shetye’s arrest), when the report comes, action will definitely be initiated and such issues will be dealt with a firm hand,” he said.
Khaunte sought to highlight his e-governance and online services initiative as proof that this can reduce corruption in the department and that he is actively seeking to curb graft.
“Babu Kavlekar should be the last person to talk when it comes to scams and briberies. We are implementing systems in every office. When we are trying to implement the Right to Time-bound Delivery of Services, when we say mutation will be done in 90 days, the common man requiring certifications, when we are launching services online…it is clear that the system takes care of a lot these sort of of issues. Our intentions (to reduce corruption) are clear. They should make responsible statements,” he said.
