MARGAO
In an interesting development, Curtorim MLA Reginaldo Lourenco on Saturday demanded to know from Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar the action government proposes to take to undo its wrong move to hand over Rs 300 crore to the SEZ promoters, but struggled on the question whether he favours criminal action against all persons, including the Congress leaders, in the matter.
“Why should I demand action against the Congress leaders? Why should I be a sacrificial lamb? Let the demand for action against the Congress come from other parties. Moreover, it is the government’s responsibility to take action against the irregularities,” Reginaldo said, when the media sought to know what prevents the Congress MLA from demanding criminal action as was voiced by the SEZ Virodhi Manch and other NGOs.
He demanded that the government should explain to the people why the cabinet took the decision to pay the amount to the SEZ promoters. “Since it is public money people have to know. Was Parrikar’s association with anti-SEZ activists, including late Matanhy Saldanha, nothing but deception? It was Parrikar who was shouting from the rooftops about the wrongdoings in 86 plots allotted to the SEZ promoters. He had also filed a plaint in the month of December 2011 with the then Director General of Police, Aditya Arya stating that the SEZ scam was to the tune of Rs 400-500 crore, while suspecting that middlemen had pocketed Rs 50 crore as kickbacks,” Reginaldo reminded.
“This issue is of public importance as many Goemkars had then fought tooth and nail against land being allotted to SEZ promoters illegally,” he added.
“How can the Parrikar government, which itself does not have any credibility, go to the Supreme Court and submit that it will settle the issue with the SEZ promoters?”
