Team Herald
MARGAO: United Goans Foundation (UGF) has filed complaints against several people, including Margao councillors and MLAs Digambar Kamat and Vijai Sardesai, for their alleged involvement in two scams. The complaints have been filed under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
In the first alleged scam, according to UGF secretary Avinash Tavares, Fomento claimed that it had entered into a consortium with IL&FS Waste Management & Urban Services and IL&FS Ecosmart for the Sonsoddo solid waste management project, but the concessionaire agreement was signed only by Fomento.
He also accused former chairperson Sushila Naik and present Chairperson Arthur D’Silva of being signatories in an agreement with Fomento and added, “Another fraud was committed, where a firm called Urban Management Consultant was appointed as a consultant for a Rs 6 lakh project without floating a tender.”
UGF also claimed that the High Powered Committee, Monitoring Committee and MMC councillors and officers went out of their way to favour Fomento; they even took back the dump on the pretext of heavy metal contamination.
The complaints in this case have been registered against Kamat, Sardesai, all sitting MMC councillors and present and past members of the HPC.
“Even more shocking was a letter by the Municipal Engineer dated April 10, 2014, which authorized municipal employees to work under Fomento supervisors and staff at the garbage treatment plant to segregate and bale waste,” added Avinash.
In the second complaint, UGF accused Arthur, Sardesai, two of his aides, MMC Chief Officer Yeshwant Tawde and other officials of trying to make a quick buck by leasing out municipal land to Reliance JIO Infocomm Ltd, which installed WiFi towers without obtaining permissions and legal requirements and verifying the details of the leased land. UGF alleged that Sardessai is the mastermind behind the WiFi scam.
UGF referred to a letter of intent signed by a consultancy firm and Reliance Jio June 11, 2015, for the sublease of land and facilitation of requisite permissions for ground-based masts. UGF president Ashish Kamat stated, “The LoI clearly mentions the subleasing of premises by Reliance Jio at 10 locations in the MMC’s jurisdiction for a tenure of 15 years for a proposed consideration of Rs 30,000 per month per plot.”
Ashish recalled that Sardesai and Arthur had launched the Wi-Fi service on the former’s birthday and promoted it as a “Vijay Sardesai Initiative” via social media and on his website.
