August 18 2012
PWD: No one touches the temple of corruption
The Goan reported On December 22 and 23 2011, 48 hours before the code ofconduct came into place for the assembly elections, one division of the PWD(Division VI) issued 214 work orders, worth 60 crores.
The Goan conducted a two month investigation intoirregularities of the PWD. Division 6, which looks after the constituencies ofMargao, Fatorda and Navelim, amongst others, issued the work orders in recordtime. A source disclosed that all the orders were issued “through verbal ordersfrom the top.” This was just one division. The PWD in Goa has 25 divisions inall.
Subsequently, on September 29, The Goan reported on how thethen PWD Minister Churchill Alemao gave handwritten instructions to the WaterResources Department to release Rs 7 crores for a routine exercise. On October27, The Goan exposed how ministers from Division XXV, gave written instructionsfor short tenders, choosing not just the work but also their favouritecontractors.
Since then: On October 27, PWDMinister Sudin Dhavlikar told The Goan said there was enough evidence toprosecute former PWD Minister Chruchill Alemao.
Manohar Parrikar announced in Margao that action would beinitiated against Executive Engineers
Current status: None of this happened. The issue ofcorruption in the PWD, exposed by The Goan, has been pushed to the backburner.
November 24 2012
Dabolims “sons” more privileged than Mopas “orphans”
The plot is simple. One man Bernard Costa -called “son ofthe soil” gets 36, 800 square metres of his land denotified. The land wasacquired by the government as parking space for the Dabolim airport. Withinmonths of the denotification, Bernard Costa sold the land to Vasco’s biggestbuilder Anand Bose, who proceeded to build on the land.
Contrast this to Mopa where (as our Big Story Page 16-17reports), where close to 80 lakh square netres have been acquired without anyreal consultation with people
Since then: Vasco based real estate developer Anand Bose’sname was also included along with Bernard Costa’s family members in the list ofowners of the land. ( survey number 8/1). The alternate land earmarked belongsto the defense ministry. However the Goa government allowed the insertion ofthe Chicalim Communidades name as a co owner.
Current status: The High Court has recently admitted a freshpetition by the activist Joao Philipe Dsouza challenging the government’s plan of allowing section 6 of the LA act tolapse to justify the denotification, and has served notices to the stategovernment.
December 22, 2012 The Goan reported
Regional Plan 21- A distant memory
Six years after fiery speeches and a massive people’smovement in favour of scrapping the Regional Plan 2011, the government hasfailed to keep up to its promise of a transparent Regional Plan 2021. Thenotified RP 2021 is on hold but still alive while RP 2001 is still used forland use and development . A temporarystop gap arrangement is dragging on indefinitely
Since then: Manohar Parrikar had told at a meeting ofFriends of Good Governance, just before The Goan report that he held back work on the Regional Plan, sincehe could not handle two contentious issues of mining and the Regional Plan.After the report the Village Groups of Goa and the GBA has sought meetings withthe Chief Minister to get this off the backburner but to no avail
Current status: Thenotified plan hangs in a limbo and a new plan looks nowhere in sight. Thepromise of keeping the plan open for suggestions from Aug-Sep 15 2012 is only adistant memory. India’s senior most Town Planner and former member of the taskforce of RP 2021, Edgar Ribeiro’s letter of November 6 giving criticalsuggestions like bringing ODP’s in theRegional Plan ambit, has not been responded to.
