Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has to look into the alleged corruption in the proposal to hand over the restored Fort Aguada jail complex to a private party that has no prior experience in this sphere. The fort has been redeveloped as a museum dedicated to God’s freedom struggle and also has galleries for performing arts and a cafe. The state government has leased out the operations for a paltry annual sum of Rs 1.2 crore which is chicken feed compared to the revenue-generating potential of the property. The government could have easily raked in Rs 1 crore per month in entrance fees as the monument is one of the most visited ones in Goa. It is pertinent to note that during the cabinet discussions on the subject, the CM had also agreed that the management contract of the restored jail premises should not be awarded to an outside entity, but for some strange reason he flipped. There is a lot of merit in the argument that Fort Aguada could have been easily run by GTDC which has wide experience in running tourist venues across the state. Do we see the seeds of another scam here?
