PANAJI
The alleged “irregularities” and “illegalities” into the iconic Kala Academy renovation work had rocked successive State Legislative Assembly sessions and under pressure from the Opposition, the much reluctant government constituted a three-member technical committee to examine the alleged “corruption”. But, the probe now seems to be a mere eye wash.
One year down the line since its constitution, the committee headed by the Principal of Goa Architectural College Dr Ashish Rege has not deliberated a single word pertaining to the KA project. Soon after it was set up in January 2023, the committee met twice only to discuss the remuneration and office space to hold the meetings.
It is been learnt from highly placed sources that the other two members of the committee K G Gupta, head of department civil engineering, Goa College of Engineering and Sandip Chodnekar, general manager Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation (GSIDC) have voiced their concerns in writing to the State government -- who on the other hand failed to take any cognizance. The members had written to the Government in December, last year.
“The members informed the Chief Minister that despite repeated reminders, the Chairman of the Committee has not called for any meeting to discuss into the allegations of corruption or irregularities in the KA renovation work,” sources said adding ‘the Anti-Corruption bureau (ACB) as well as 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 Rs 49 cr scam. Two activists Sudip Tamhankar and Avinash Tavares had approached the ACB and Vigilance respectively alleging large-scale illegality and irregularity into 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 nomination basis.
“No timeline was set by the government for submission of the report. Hence, I suppose, the chairman decided to take his sweet time,” sources said, informing that Rege is set to retire as college principal this month.
When tried to contact, the committee member Chodnekar remained unavailable for comments. Several attempts to reach out to Rege also failed.
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.
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 Public Works Department (PWD), being the execution agency.
