MAPUSA
Transport Minister Mauvin Godinho on Thursday told the Goa Legislative Assembly that several bus-stands built by the KTC have turned into white elephants and the focus now was to improve the existing bus-stands.
Godinho also said that he will review the decision to construct a bus-stand at Quepem.
“Most of the bus-stands constructed in Assonora, Honda, Shiroda and Cuncolim have become white elephants as they remain unused. Now, our focus will be to improve existing bus-stands like Panaji and Margao,” Godinho said.
The Transport Minister was responding to a query raised by Quepem MLA, Altone D’Costa on whether the government was planning to construct a well equipped bus terminus in Quepem.
Godinho informed that the government has 6,410 sq mts of land in its possession for construction of a KTC bus-stand in Quepem.
“We are planning to review the bus-stand project. I don’t want to build another white elephant in Quepem,” he said.
D’Costa informed the House that the former deputy chief minister had laid the foundation stone for the bus-stand on the eve of the 2022 assembly polls.
“The then Dy CM laid the foundation stone without tendering the project. Some government officials also attended the stone laying ceremony months before the assembly election. The government should institute an inquiry into this. The officials who accompanied the minister should also be inquired into,” he said.
It was obvious that he was referring to former Quepem MLA Chandrakant (Babu) Kavlekar.
Intervening in the discussion, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant informed that the work of the project was tendered but only the work order was not issued.
“Some bus-stands have been constructed by spending Rs 20 to Rs 30 crore and after inauguration cattle occupy these bus-stands,” Sawant said.
The Quepem MLA maintained that a tender was issued only to carry out soil testing at the site but the actual project of constructing the bus-stand was not tendered.
“Due process was not followed and therefore the government should conduct an inquiry in the episode,” he said.
