PANAJI
With less than a week to go for the March 10 counting process, outgoing Panaji MLA, Atanasio (Babush) Monserrate, who is seeking re-election, finds a place as director on the freshly reconstituted board of the Imagine Panaji Smart City Development Limited (IPSCDL).
Monserrate's Mayor-son Rohit, is also named among the directors of the Special Purpose Vehicle set up to implement projects under the Smart City programme.
Chief Secretary Puneet Kumar Goel, IAS, who is also finance secretary, has been named chairman of the board, reconstituted last week, as the notification claims, with 'ex-officio' members.
Monserrate's place on the Board comes by virtue of his being the MLA representing Panaji, while his son is director because he is the Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP) Mayor.
Others on the IPSCDL board are Dr Tariq Thomas, IAS, who is the Urban Development Secretary, Ajit Roy, IAS, who is the North Goa Collector, Gurudas Pilarnkar who is additional secretary for urban development, CCP Commissioner, Agnelo Fernandes, principal chief engineer (PWD) Uttam Parsekar and Deepak Kochar, an official of the Union Housing Ministry.
Ravi Dhawan, IAS, has been named managing director and chief executive officer (CEO) of IPSCDL.
The notification reconstituting the IPSCDL board was issued by Pilarnkar but adds that DMA will issue notifications reconstituting the board as and when there is a change of the incumbents holding the posts and for the other members as per government's order from time to time.
The IPSCDL has had a chequered past ridden with controversy emanating from its overlapping jurisdiction with the CCP. It has also faced intermittently allegations of corruption and lack of transparency over several projects it has proposed in and around the capital city ever since it was included among over 100 cities of the country sought to be developed as smart cities way back in 2015.
On Wednesday, it has proposed two more projects -- pedestrianisation of the Cafe Bhosle square in the city and a community market for Ribandar.
