Team Herald
PANJIM: The Goa Forward Party (GFP) has maintained that Goa government had roped-in a Bangalore-based firm to register labourers in the State, details of which were not verified by the Labour Department.
Speaking to reporters after the hearing at Lokayukta, GFP vice president Durgadas Kamat said Labour Minister Jennifer Monserrate had approved the proposal for hiring the Bangalore firm to conduct the survey.
“The Labour Department did not register the labourers. In fact, an agreement was signed (by the department) with a Bangalore-based company on January 17, 2020. The minister has cleared it. I am not saying that she (minister) is involved, but she is definitely lying on issues pertaining to the scam,” he alleged.
The GFP, in June 2020, filed a complaint before Goa Lokayukta Justice (Retired) PK Misra alleging multi-crore “Labour Gate Scam” by the State government, wherein crores of rupees were disbursed to BJP workers. The fund, it alleged, was distributed from the financial support earmarked for building and other construction workers to overcome the loss of wages caused due to COVID-19 pandemic.
The complainant claimed that while the third party was given the contract to carry out the task of registering workers; the Labour Department failed to verify the facts. “They distributed financial relief without verification of the data. Involvement of the Bangalore Company into the scam is certain,” Kamat alleged.
In the hearing, Kamat claimed that representative of Labour Department sought six weeks time to submit report into the matter, which was denied. “The Lokayukta has refused to grant six weeks time and directed the Labour Secretary to remain present in person on August 18, along with the report,” he said.
The GFP leader claimed that the scam is much bigger than unveiled in the present scenario.
Kamat has charged that an amount of over Rs 13 crore has been disbursed to 15,490 ‘so called’ construction workers and labourers during the pandemic.
