Goa Forward: Failure to implement CAG recommendations will spell doom

Addressing the media, Sardesai said the CAG report has said there’s a lack of responsiveness of the government to audits. “This is of serious concern since the role of the CAG is to inspect the financial health of various departments, prevent wasteful expenditure and revenue leakages, and improve performance. Non-compliance with CAG recommendations can lead to revenue losses and performance failures in the department.”

He added: “When multiple departments fail, the cumulative impact compounded with the government’s policy failures and rising debt will lead to Statewide socio-economic collapse as witnessed in Sri Lanka.”

On the IDC, he said the CAG 2020 report had pointed out the revenue loss due to a large number of vacant plots in IDC, non-recovery of dues from industries, delays in executing deeds of transfer to allottees, delays and arbitrariness in allotment of plots, poor infrastructure in the industrial estates, etc. “All this is due to the rampant corruption in IDC. CAG had suggested several recommendations to improve the performance of IDC but all of it has been ignored. In the 2022 report, it has been revealed that the government dug into IDC coffers to pay SEZ firms Rs 256.57 crore as refundable/ settlement amount which included Rs 17 crore as construction licence fees that were paid to the local bodies. In other words, the government used IDC as an ATM machine to settle an issue which once was considered a scam,” he said.

Sardesai said all this pegs the question, can the Industries department and IDC improve Goa’s industrial sector and create jobs for locals? He said the Minister claims that the government cannot guarantee 80 per cent employment for locals. However, the Minister claims that the industries which will give jobs to locals will get incentives.