The were acting in connection with a written notice sent by Baddem, Cotigao resident Kaplesh Gaonkar to various government agencies informing that the panchayat was misappropriating government funds.
In his complaint, Gaonkar stated that the panchayat had tendered works worth lakhs of rupees, but there were many irregularities. At some places, the works were either not undertaken or were marked as ‘complete’ when they were still unfinished. In other places, the work was of substandard quality; substandard materials were used in violation of government rules.
Cotigao is a village near the border of Goa and is dominated by tribal communities – especially the Kunbi tribe. The Central and State governments disburse a large amount of funds for such tribal areas. Since funds are not a constraint, panchayats like Cotigao float tenders for nonexistent projects.
DySP Bosco Silva confirmed the raid and stated that the persons involved in any scam would be severely dealt with. His team and staff of the panchayat, Block Development Office (BDO), and Public Work Department (PWD) visited and inspected some of the sites mentioned in Gaonkar’s complaint.
Silva further said that he had inquired with the panchayat secretary, members and locals about various work done by the panchayat in the past years. Many locals backed Gaonkar’s claims of sub-standard and incomplete work in the village and the misappropriation of funds. Silva also inspected the documents of different offices to ascertain the villagers’ claims.
“There is total corruption and misappropriation of panchayat funds in nine tenders, including road works, constructions of steps, providing and fixing traffic signboards, etc. The construction work of a drain from Avali bus stop to the house of Sonu Velip in Cotigao has been shown as completed. In fact, there is no gutter exiting near there. Without inspecting the site, the authorities have sanctioned Rs 3,72,942,” said Gaonkar.
He added, “The construction work of a retaining wall, fixing of RCC, the roads and other works are all substandard, so I lodged a complaint with the vigilance department.”
