PANAJI
Citing the uproar by citizens against large-scale land transactions at multiple gram sabhas on Sunday, Leader of the Opposition Yuri Alemao accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government of a “hidden agenda” to transfer land into private hands.
“The growing public outcry is the result of the BJP government’s hidden agendas to sell lands and implement projects without locals’ consent,” Alemao said in a post on micro-blogging site X (formerly Twitter), hours after a 200-plus strong gram sabha meeting at Tivim resolved to oppose a private university proposed to come up on some 2 lakh square metres of land in their village.
Alemao said the Congress supports the people of Tivim to save their land from going into the hands of the private university, even as he slammed the ruling BJP, saying it stands exposed over its anti-people policies.
Meanwhile, GPCC president Amit Patkar hit out at the BJP governments both at the Centre and in the State over what he called “rewarding” bureaucrats involved in land-related deals and illegalities.
Citing the case of Goa’s outgoing chief secretary Puneet Kumar Goel, Patkar said in the rule of the “Party with a Difference,” corruption seems to be the norm, not the exception.
Goel, whose name has cropped up in a case of alleged illegal conversion of land-use zoning of a plot of land in Aldona, which was formerly a paddy field, was on Saturday transferred in an apparent promotion to the rank of Secretary to the Union Government.
“Tainted bureaucrat of the BJP government, Chief Secretary Puneet Kumar Goel, involved in illegal paddy field conversions, is not just shielded but even rewarded with promotions,” Patkar said, questioning whether it was an escape route to avoid the law for the illegalities.
He said the blatant disregard for accountability and justice is a mockery of governance and asked how the public can even expect fair administration when corruption is “celebrated” in this manner.
