PANAJI
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Monday said the land-grabbing racket could possibly have been nipped in the bud if the police and senior officials had not neglected complaints made at some police stations as routinely happens.
"People must have filed complaints with the police and the same might have been kept aside as routine complaints due to which the scam escalated to the extent that an SIT had to be set up," Sawant said.
He dated the 'land-grab' racket back to some 15 to 20 years ago.
Sawant was speaking at the launch of the 'Vigilance Week' programme at the State Secretariat in Porvorim.
He said, nearly 110 properties whose owners are not known or who are staying abroad which have been 'grabbed' have come to light till date.
Meanwhile, the Chief Minister said up to 8 to 9 government officials were suspended and major vigilance and corruption complaints filed against another 10 to 12 officials in his four year tenure thus far.
"I feel bad sometimes to suspend officials but such stringent action is needed to instill discipline in others”, he said.
Sawant said, procrastinating and keeping files lingering in any department increases the scope for corruption to breed.
He advised officials to be vigilant in this regard adding that even if an officer is not corrupt but his not taking timely decisions and the resultant delay itself is loss for the State.
"With 65,000 to 70,000 government employees in a State that has 15-odd lakh population, we can adopt the best practices in the world with the help of technology and also reduce manpower requirement," Sawant said.
