PANAJI
The State government constituted a three-member technical committee to examine the alleged “corruption”, “irregularities”, and “illegalities” in the iconic Kala Academy renovation work finally held its first meeting, more than a year after it was set up in January 2023.
Interestingly, the committee is now headed by WRD Chief Engineer Pramod Badami, after its former chairman - Principal of Goa Architectural College Dr Ashish Rege, retired in February this year, without conducting a single meeting.
According to sources, the committee, which held its first extensive meeting this week, has directed the Public Works Department (PWD) - the nodal agency for executing the renovation work, to submit all the documents along with estimates and payments pertaining to the works of Kala Academy. PWD is directed to ensure that documents, in the original format, are submitted at the earliest for further scrutiny.
Soon after it was set up in January 2023, the committee, under Rege, had met twice only to discuss the remuneration and office space to hold the meetings.
The other two members of the committee are KG Gupta, head of the department of civil engineering, Goa College of Engineering, and Sandip Chodnekar, general manager of Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation (GSIDC).
Sources said that the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) as well as the Vigilance department in their inquiry had concluded indicating prima facie scam in the entire work.
The Kala Academy building was renovated at a cost of Rs 56 crore and the allegation was of a Rs 49 crore scam. Two activists, Sudip Tamhankar and Avinash Tavares, had approached the ACB and Vigilance respectively alleging large-scale illegality and irregularity in the project. The complainants alleged that all legal methods were bypassed and the renovation work was awarded to a selective company or person without tendering and on a nomination basis.
In September 2022, the Vigilance department had recommended the constitution of the technical team to examine the project. Before that, ACB submitted a similar report. Both recommendations came with a rider to exclude expertise from the PWD being the execution agency.
Minister for Art and Culture Govind Gaude had justified the nomination move on the Floor of the House and had cited Shah Jahan and the Taj Mahal to illustrate how a government project can be awarded without floating tenders. The remarks had attracted widespread criticism but the minister remained unfazed.
