PANAJI
A charged opposition pinned down the BJP-led government on the National Games spending, alleging misappropriation of funds and demanding a high-level inquiry through a retired High Court judge. Pointing to a Rs 975 crore expenditure on the games, the opposition highlighted the duplication of works through multiple agencies.
The opposition benches, led by Leader of Opposition Yuri Alemao and AAP MLA Venzy Viegas, took on Sports Minister Govind Gaude, who justified that of the total expenditure, Rs 573 crores spent on infrastructure is from 2014 until date, and that the infrastructure was also used for the Lusofonia games.
While denying any inquiry into the matter, the Minister said that Rs 445 crore was the actual expenditure on the 37th national games, of which Rs 261 crore has been paid and Rs 184 remains outstanding.
Referring to the papers laid on the table of the house, Alemao said that the total expenditure incurred has been pegged at Rs 975 crore. Of this, Rs 349 crore has been spent on organisational events and Rs 573 crore on infrastructure, in three phases “ Phase I “ Rs 317 crores, Phase II - Rs 152 crore, and Phase III - Rs 104 crore.
He said that Rs 23 has been spent on opening and closing ceremonies of the 37th national games, another Rs 23 crore on promotional events, and Rs 5.35 crores on advertisements.
Benaulim MLA Viegas said that the government appointed multiple agencies to undertake similar works and were paid huge sums of money. He also said that almost Rs 2.60 crores were paid as salaries to the staff appointed for the games from January 2023 to March 2023.
The opposition demanded an inquiry through a retired high court justice into the exorbitant expenditure, especially involving infrastructure, promotional events, and consultancy fees.
AAP MLA Cruz Silva even brought to the notice of the House that Goa spent a huge amount of money on advertisement and publicity in Uttar Pradesh alone, apart from Delhi.
“These were the only two States where publicity was done, but no other States were covered,” he said.
