Citizens hold a human chain protest at the site of the nallah construction near the ESI hospital, Margao.
MARGAO
The Shadow Council along with citizens of Margao held a human chain protest along the nullah behind ESI Hospital Margao on Saturday, demanding the suspension of WRD engineers responsible for what the NGO alleged as a Rs 81 lakhs fraud.
The citizens made a strong appeal to the High Court and the Speaker of the Goa Legislative Assembly to take serious cognizance, and initiate action against the WRD engineers for furnishing misleading information to the Court and the Goa Assembly.
While briefing the media at the site behind ESI Hospital, Margao, SCM Convener Savio Coutinho stated that very recently on July 30, 2023, Speaker of the Lok Sabha Om Birla, in his speech during the Inauguration Ceremony of the Assam Assembly complex stated that "any state assembly complex is not just a building, but a temple of democracy, where public representatives gather to work for the welfare of the people".
"However contrary to this fact, around the same time, the WRD department engineers were busy preparing a misleading and fabricated answer to be furnished before the Goa Assembly session held in July/August 2023", Coutinho said.
While thanking the Goa Forward party MLA Vijay Sardessai for filing the LAQ with respect to the nullah construction, Coutinho charged that false and misleading answers are provided to the august house, adding “hence the WRD department engineers deserve to be severely punished and losses to the public exchequer need to be recovered from them”.
In the LAQ answer dated 2nd August 2023, the answer provided through the WRD Minister Subash Shirodkar states that the parallel nullah was required to increase the quantity of storm water discharge. "How on earth do the WRD engineers expect to increase the storm water discharge when both the nullahs are connected to the same narrow culvert?, questioned Coutinho pointing out to the narrow box culvert.
The LAQ answer also speaks of a Hydrology study having been conducted. “You don't need a super qualified engineer, but a local mason would be in a position to say that widening of the narrow culvert would have facilitated better discharge of storm water rather than the construction of a parallel nullah, Coutinho argued. It was not a Hydrology study but a "Fraud-ology" study that was conducted, Coutinho charged.
He said the very purpose of having the protest and media briefing at the site was to enable the public and the media to have direct view of the factual position, which are totally contradictory to the claims of the WRD department.
Activist Mahesh Nayak warned that if the government fails to take action against the engineers responsible for the Rs 81 lakhs loss to the public exchequer, the citizens shall approach the competent forum including the court of law for the recovery of the same.
