Stating that the Congress would arm the Lokayukta with more teeth and allow it to bring offenders to book, the Congress’ Chief Minister in waiting Digambar Kamat said strengthening Lokaykta type institutions and scrapping the three linear projects were major priorities for the Congress
Asked if Congress will bring any concrete legally binding deterrents to corruption if it comes to power, he said –
The BJP government passed the Pubic Services Guarantee bill but has not implemented it. In the Congress manifesto, the party will bring in measures to “break certain things that generate corruption”. “We are trying to fix responsibility. If a file must be cleared in 8 days, he has to. The Officer will have to pay from his pocket to the affected citizens,” Kamat claimed.
Will Congress give more powers to Lokayukta?
Congress wants to bring all three bodies — the Lokayukta, the Police complaint authority, and the Vigilance Dept under one body under a High Court Judge
Has Goa become corrupt under BJP rule or prior to that?
Former Chief Minister Digambar Kamat said former Governor Satyapal Malik in his interview to a national channel was referring to corruption only of the two BJP regimes. The Lokayukta passed orders on 21 cases, has any case been investigated? He added “My government has done away with SEZ’s bowing t the people’s will. It was my decision that was upheld by the High Court and SEZs were scrapped
The SMART CITY scam
Digambar Kamat is of the opinion that the Smart city project should have been handled in a transparent manner by taking all stakeholders into confidence. They got some outsiders as CEOs and MDs and did whatever they wanted under the garb of the smart city. He said when he campaigned in Panjim he saw that people actually did not have toilets. The former chief minister assured that Congress will review the functioning of the smart city project and see if it has been done with honesty and sincerity or with malafide intentions.
On the contentious issue of mining which actually led to the fall of the Kamat Government
On the controversial subject of illegal mining which sank his government in the 2012 elections, Kamat said somewhere in 2006 or 2007 the Centre’s introduction of the open general license by which any trader can buy from anybody and export-led to all the illegalities since it suited traders since there was no check on the MPT.
“Traders who came from outside were buying ore from leaseholders and given them more price and directly exporting. When we came to know this I met (Union) Finance minister, Shipping and Mines minister and convinced them that MPT should ask for a certificate from the Directorate of Mines for the ore being exported and that it has been extracted from a legal lease and royalty has been paid. This was done by my government and forced it on MPT,” Kamat said.
Why did the Supreme Court say the state failed to stop illegalities? Union Environment minister and central agencies were responsible, not me
Digambar Kamat said the Union environment minister, the Director-General of Safety, and the Indian Bureau of Mines were involved. The State government had no apparatus to do all such types of things. The state government (Directorate of mines) was restricted to checking leases, renewals, and royalty. “What royalty was paid to the government of Goa? It was not exceeding Rs 40 to 45 crore per year. Only in 2010, when many states demanded that royalty should be paid in relation to the dollar the Centre decided that it be paid on ad valorem basis where Goa government collected Rs 800 crores as royalty for the very first time in 2010.
JICA scam: No file came to the Chief Minister!!!
Asked about the JAICA scam in which he was named as an accused, Digambar Kamat said, “you will be shocked that not a single file had come to the Chief Minister. The loans were given by JAICA to the Central Government. Not a single rupee had been taken into the state government account, he said. The money was deposited in the Bank of India Branch in Tokyo and the cheques or RTGS were done directly into the accounts of the consultants or the contractors after the bills were certified by the Central Government, Kamat disclosed.
Asked if the JAICA case was a frameup, Kamat said it was indeed a frameup. He said people knew who had framed him. Without naming the person, Kamat said those who did it were punished not by people but by God. God is great, I have full faith in God.
TMC could have discussed this with Congress before coming to Goa. They took our leaders and hurt us
Asked if there was any animosity of the Congress toward the newer political parties, Kamat said “TMC has a good relationship with Congress. If TMC wanted to come to Goa they could have had some preliminary discussion with Congress leadership. They suddenly came and took our leaders. That has hurt our leadership also. The same is the case with AAP
Will Congress chicken out again?
Asked if Congress will chicken out again if they are in a position and not come under pressure from the BJP, Kamat said you will come to know when Rahul Gandhi comes to Goa, Friday. We will work out a solution, he said.
