PANAJI
Goa Congress president Girish Chodankar on Thursday levelled two allegations against Chief Minister Pramod Sawant accusing him of trying to make blatant attempts to allegedly 'capture' the Sanquelim Municipal Council as well as 2,500 sq. mts of Goa Housing Board property in is assembly constituency.
Addressing a press conference at the party's state headquarters, Chodankar also said that the land which is being allegedly cornered by the Sai Nursing Institute, a society founded by Sawant himself, was formally slotted to provide for a maternity institute and a post and telegraph office.
"The Chief Minister seems to simply love property. Once he sees land, he just wants it. He is trying to capture 2,500 sq. mts of Housing Board land in Sanquelim for his nursing institute, when the land is slotted for being utilised as a maternity institute and a post and telegraph office. The CM wants to capture it illegally," Chodankar alleged.
The Congress president also said that the Sai Nursing Institute was registered as a society headed by Sawant, but the Chief Minister has since vacated, but only after his current officer on special duty Arjun Parab was facilitated into the organisation's decision-making body.
Chodankar also said that the land, owned by the Goa Housing Board was allotted by auction to the nursing institute, but allotted to it after inviting application from interested parties, which is in violation of the Board's norms.
"Information sourced under RTI Act says no auction was conducted (by Goa Housing Board). The society has even amalgamated two plots, plus an eight meter road to facilitate the project. The government should probe this," Chodankar said.
Chodankar also alleged that the Sai Nursing Institute was not a charitable institute, but a commercial one, adding that the Chief Minister was misusing his power to ensure that the institute he had founded could gain from his decisions in office.
