PANAJI
Former commissioner of the Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP) and Congress leader Elvis Gomes has alleged that wasteful expenditure of a whopping Rs 669 crore by the Imagine Panaji Smart City Development Corporation Limited (IPSCDCL) amounts to defrauding the state exchequer.
"Even though the IPSCDCL is a registered company, not a single audit has been conducted of the company. The company has not filed even the returns for the last three years. The company is turning into a bogus company and soon will lose its company status,” said Gomes.
“Around 50 individuals employed by IPSCCL have left the organisation in three years which includes retired CE level officers from WRD, PWD etc. There is a need for a thorough audit to expose where the funds are going,” Gomes claimed.
Gomes said the councillors are unaware of what work has been done under the Smart City Mission. He also claimed there was no mention anywhere in the Smart City plan about the impact of casinos on the lives of residents in and near Sao Tome, Old Secretariat up to the Collectorate and the by-lanes.
Gomes pointed out that even though Robust Electronic Information System was supposed to be the focus of the smart city concept, the websites of IPSCDCL, as well as CCP, have no information about the smart city mission and project progress.
“Projects worth Rs 669 crore were approved by the central government for Panaji under the mission. However, the IPSCDCL has misused these funds. The huge funds were released to various Delhi-based agencies for works that were only on paper,” alleged Gomes.
“A company was allotted work to implement the Master System Integrator for Goa Intelligent City Management System with a whopping Rs 22.49 crore as ‘mobilization advance’ for installation of CCTVs. The total project cost of Rs 180 crore would have been sufficient to cover entire Goa.”
Gomes said another company was paid Rs 32 lakh as fees for consultation for pre“tendering consultation for the Restoration, Refurbishment and Interior Design of Office Premises of IPSCDCL in the Old secretariat building.
“A company was paid Rs 28 lakh for an Inception Report on the Comprehensive Mobility Plan and Parking Master Plan for Panaji. The company has submitted a 55-page report which means the cost of each page of the report is Rs 51,000. The report is just a copy-paste matter and there is no proper study involved in it,” said Gomes.
He claimed that the Smart Roads from Old Patto Bridge to Community Centre and from St Inez Vivanta Junction to Goa International have a total completion period of 16 months, whereas PWD sewerage projects were allowed 36 months for completion. “Which means, roads would be completed before laying of underground sewerage network projects,” he said.
He also stated that GTDC was involved in procuring ‘smart buses’ though its earlier ventures of Bio-diesel buses, amphibious bus, seaplane, which were a failure. “There is no plan for heritage protection, no plan for afforestation to maintain the existing tree cover and increase it, no plan for air pollution management, and no plan for the impact of climate change.”
Gomes also alleged that the government is trying to privatise the Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Indoor Stadium.
