BASURI DESAI
PANJIM: Vasco MLA Carlos Almeida will be summoned by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) in the Rs 32 lakh garbage compactor scam. Almeida was a member of the standing committee of Mormugao Municipal Council (MMC) that had released the last portion of the payment to the contractor, sources at ACB said.
Former MMC chairperson Shekhar Khadapkar was summoned on Thursday and Suchita Shirodkar, another former MMC chairperson, will be summoned on May 4, as it was during their tenures that the compactor was purchased at a higher price in a fraudulent manner.
Moghe Engineers, which is a non-existent firm, had prepared the estimate of Rs 32 lakh of the compactor and it was approved by MMC, whereas the actual cost of the compactor was Rs 18 lakh, ACB sources said.
The investigation showed that as per the letterhead submitted to MMC, Moghe Engineers, who had prepared the estimate for the garbage compactor at Rs 32 lakh, had an office on the 4th floor of Golden Hill Cooperative Housing Society, Mangor Hill Vasco. Surprisingly, the Golden Hill Cooperative Housing Society at the Mangor Hill has only three floors.
The phone numbers mentioned on all three letterheads of Moghe Engineers, Marine and Allied Engineering and Raj Traders are common and owned by Rajesh Marathe, the proprietor of Raj Traders who had supplied the compactor to MMC.
The second bidder in the tender, Marine and Allied Engineering had quoted Rs 34 lakh in the bid, the letterhead was also allegedly prepared by Rajesh Marathe as per ACB officials as the phone number mentioned on the letterhead belongs to Marathe. Raj Traders was supposed to supply a compactor of 14 cubic metres as per the tender but in reality the compactor is of 9 cubic metres.
So far the statements of Gopal Parsekar, Saifulla Khan, Lavina D’Souza, Meghnath Parab, Sharad Chopdekar and Sadashiv Harmalkar have been recorded by ACB. The inquiry is in the final stage, ACB officials said.
Besides Almeida, D’Souza, Khan, Chopdekar and Shirodkar were members of the MMC standing committee. However, Khan and D’Souza were not present for the meeting at which it was decided to release the funds to the contractor. Shirodkar, in the capacity of chairperson, had released 75% of the funds in advance overruling the decision of the chief officer to release only 50% of the cost of the compactor.
QUOTEROOM
We are not technical experts and thus we were not aware about the faults in the compactor purchased. As member of standing committee, I was happy that we were getting a compactor but had no clue about the alleged scam.
Nitin alias Sharad Chopdekar, former MMC Chairperson, present councillor
I took the resolution as there were instructions from the court. The officers who are well qualified for the purpose should have followed procedure and not us, as we are not experts.
Shekhar Khadapkar, former MMC Chairperson, present councillor
During my tenure, the process for procurement of the compactor started but I had no clue that the contractor supplied us a compactor of less capacity. I have deposed about the same to ACB and I am confident that the law will punish the guilty and not innocent.
Suchita alias Manda Shirodkar, former MMC Chairperson, present councillor
TIMELINE
Aug 22, 2010: Decision taken to purchase compactor for door-to-door garbage collection
Sept 14, 2010: DMA releases grant in aid of Rs 32 lakh for operation and maintenance cost of day-to-day garbage collection, transportation, segregation and disposal
Sept 27, 2010: Council resolves to utilize the Rs 32 lakh to purchase compactor
Sept 30, 2010: Tender notice issued by MMC
March 23, 2011: DMA approves the purchase of compactor
April 2011: Raj Traders requests to release 90% of the funds as advance payment
April 15, 2011: 75% of the advance released to Raj Traders
Aug 17, 2011: Compactor handed over to MMC
Oct 2011: Contractor asks to release remaining 25% funds, which are released soon after
2013: ACB receives complaint of scam in purchase of compactor
