the goan I network
PANAJI
Congress president Girish Chodankar on Saturday said that as BJP candidate for the bypoll Sidharth Kuncalienkar had not come out to publicly refute the allegations made by the Congress about him having been a party to corruption as part of the Smart City scam, then the claims of the Congress were true.
Further, Chodankar said that the Congress would paint all zebra crossings in the entire state with half the money that Kuncalienkar claimed it would take to re-paint the zebra crossings in Panaji. (Chodankar was referring to the Rs 35 lakh tender put out by Imagine Panaji Smart City Development Limited (IPSCDL) to undertake the painting of zebra crossing within the city of Panaji.)
Chodankar also said that the estimated cost of renovating and refurbishing the offices of IPSCDL was Rs 5 crore, and demanded to know how the tender cost had been priced at Rs 20 crore.
For the Goa Intelligent City Management System under IPSCDL, Chodankar has demanded to know how much has been spent on the project and has given Kuncalienkar a two-day deadline within which to come out with the figure.
The Congress further said that due to rampant corruption that the party alleges has gone on under the Goa State Infrastructural Development Corporation (GSIDC) of which Kuncalienkar was vice-chairman till a few days ago, the corporation name should be changed to the “Sidharth Infrastructure Development Corporation.”
The Congress has also strongly condemned that Congress workers, neutral residents of Panaji, as well as former BJP workers who are now supporting Congress candidate Babush Monserrate are being threatened by Sidharth by using the name of Amit Shah. Chodankar said that these people being threatened were too scared to even file a complaint against Kuncalienkar.
The party further alleged that some government officials whose family members were campaigning for the Congress were being threatened with transfer, and that this had to stop.
