PANAJI
Goa Pradesh Congress Committee on Sunday alleged that the auctioning of SEZ land is another scam by the BJP government. GPCC President Girish Chodankar has demanded an enquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the alleged ‘scam’ by saffron leaders, failing which Congress has vowed to expose the manipulation undertaken by the present government.
Chodankar has alleged that the SEZ developers, after losing in the High Court, had approached the Supreme Court and while the apex court was about to pass an order, the then Parrikar government had gone on to pay Rs 256.56 crore including the interest of Rs 133 crore ‘illegally’ to SEZ promoters.
“I challenge the government to show any court order directing the government to pay interest money,” Chodankar said.
Congress held that the then BJP cabinet and GIDC board's resolution to pay around Rs 256.56 crore, including Rs 133 crore of interest to the SEZ promoters was “illegal” as the GSIDC rules do not permit it. Chodankar said that the Opposition party had objected to the decision on June 18, 2018, but the government had sidelined the concerns by further burdening the state’s finances.
“GIDC is paying monthly instalments of around Rs 4 crore to repay the Rs 200 crore short-term loan taken from the Oriental Bank to pay SEZ developers. Interest on this loan is calculated at around Rs 1.1 crore per month. This is an additional burden on our exchequer imposed by BJP,” Chodankar lashed out.
