PANJIM: Alleging that the ‘Smart City’ projects in the capital city a scam of Rs 1,000 crore, the opposition Congress on Friday demanded inquiry into the alleged ‘corruption and unplanned and substandard works’.
Following the third incident in the city, wherein a truck laden with pipes trapped into the caved road on Thursday night, Congress leaders headed by Elvis Gomes gheraod the Imagine Panjim Smart City Development Limited office and submitted a 50-point memorandum to the officials with regard to ongoing works at snail’s pace.
Gomes said, “No responsible officer is present in this office. We have learnt that they never visit the office. Hence, people are suffering due to the slow pace of work. This is nothing but a scam of Rs 1,000 crore. BJP is smartly looting money out of the Smart City projects.”
Gomes said, “Instead of giving free space to the public moving in the city, the work contractors are troubling people by not using any safety measures.”
He warned that the government will have to face the music if citizens and tourists moving in the city meet with mishaps.
Gomes demanded answers to 50 questions raised by them regarding the Smart City works and added that the government was in Carnival mood and hence had turned Nelson’s eye to the hardships faced by the people.
Gomes said that as per the Central government guidelines, Smart City works should be a citizen centric mission. But no information is given to the citizens about these projects. Even the website is defunct, he added.
Congress media cell chief Amarnath Panjikar said that instead of organising study tour for MLAs in Madhya Pradesh to study Smart City projects, the government should first come and see the situation of the Panaji city.
“Accidents are taking place while the shoddy work is going on. But the BJP government is not bothered of it and it has become extra smart to loot the State exchequer. There is no safety while working on these projects,” he said.
The Congress warned that it will file a criminal case against the concerned persons in this regard.
