Team Herald
MARGAO: The Margao Congress Block, along with a group of residents from the commercial town, staged a protest outside the office of the Principal Chief Engineer, PWD at Altinho on Friday, demanding an inquiry into what they described as a multi-crore fraud in Margao.
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The protesters alleged that substantial amounts of public funds were lost due to corrupt practices associated with projects executed by the PWD, through Works Division VI and VIII under the Viksit Bharat programme, particularly in preparation for the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 6, 2024. Savio Coutinho, a prominent member of the Margao Congress, said, “Upon reviewing the information provided by the PWD office under the RTI Act and visiting the sites, we found that the measurements recorded in the bills do not align with the actuals at the respective locations. In many cases, these measurements are alarmingly inflated,” Coutinho alleged.
He claimed that a letter dated 26/08/2024 had been sent to the department requesting clarifications on certain executed works. However, no response was received, which Coutinho attributed to the falsehood surrounding the projects.
A list of five out of the 33 works mentioned in the representation submitted to the PWD was identified, suggesting potential fraud and massive siphoning of public funds. The protesters, including Lincoln Gomes, Lalan Parsekar, Camilo Camara, Damu Onskar, Aziz Shah, Robert Vaz, Pratibha Borkar, and others, challenged the PWD to conduct a joint inspection and verify the measurements alongside them, to disprove the allegations.
