TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: Alleging that there was a Delhi Commonwealth Games-like scam in the Lusofonia Games infrastructure projects, the Congress party has filed a formal complaint with the CBI seeking a probe against Sports Minister Ramesh Tawadkar and CEO Lusofonia Games, Keshav Chandra.
The party’s organizing secretary Durgadas Kamat also sought an investigation against Games advisor R K Sacheti and several other government officials into the massive illegality committed in the Games that were held January this year.
“There is illegal gratification by several government functionaries and officials and hence a thorough probe would be necessary to nail the culprits who have caused a huge loss to the government exchequer by seeking and receiving bribes,” the complaint says. Overpriced medals, many of which were later found defective; scam in the allotment of tenders for infrastructure and hiring cabs, and accommodation are few of the charges listed out by the party in its nine-page complaint copy submitted to the CBI.
“…it is shocking to see that a whopping amount of approx Rs 5.40 crore has been spent towards the appointment of technical consultant for infrastructure projects. Rs 3.98 lakh was spent for appointment of technical consultant for Tilak Maidan. It is beyond comprehension why separate technical consultant was engaged…” it says. The party also alleged that a company which was blacklisted after the CWG scam was awarded tender for laying the synthetic track at Peddem. Similarly, other tenders were also rigged, it alleged.
Besides, a fleet of 190 vehicles were hired from January 13 to January 31, 2014 from a Maharashtra based company despite numerous local vehicle operators available in the State. The complaint copy further raises serious apprehension that rooms in the hotels were booked as medical rooms, for which no explanation was given, and many rooms were billed though not utilized.
Claiming the investigation will unearth a multi-crore scam, the Congress has urged registering an offence while also investigating the political interference involved in the tendering.
