MAPUSA
The principle opposition, Congress smelled a rat in the construction of the new District & Sessions Court Complex at Merces questioning the government on steep rise in cost estimates of the project.
Acting Leader of the House, Sudhin Dhavlikar informed the House that the construction of the Court complex was undertaken without the prior approval of Expenditure Finance Committee and awarded to M/s M Venkata Rao Infra Projects Pvt Ltd at a cost of Rs 143 crores.
“The project was first estimated at Rs 70 crore, then Rs 125 crore and currently the cost has gone up to Rs 143 crore. The project estimates have more than doubled since it was planned. Since the project was undertaken without prior approval of Expenditure Finance Committee, do I see financial irregularities in the works,” questioned Ravi Naik.
Reassuring the House, Dhavlikar said that there was no financial wrongdoing but it was a case of simple mathematics which even a school kid will be able to understand.
“Initially, the project was supposed to come up on an area of 17,000-odd sq mt which was later doubled to 34,000-odd sq mt. Similarly, the project cost went up. The project is being constructed under the lens of the High Court,” Dhavlikar said.
Calling it a major financial scam, Curtorim MLA, Alexio Reginald Lourenco said that the government was hiding behind the ruse that the High Court was monitoring the project. “The project is a financial scam and the government is using the court monitoring as a shield to cover up its misdeeds,” Lourenco said.
Former chief minister and Navelim MLA, Luizinho Faleiro said that there was something fishy about the project which needed to be probed.
“This is definitely a case of financial impropriety. The government is keeping projects pending because of GST and on some flimsy grounds,” Faleiro said.
Dhavlikar informed the House that that no re-negotiations and increase in estimates after negotiations were done in the case. He also said that Goa Schedule of Rates (GSR) had gone up at least thrice since the work on the project was undertaken.
