Team Herald
MARGAO: Citizens of Margao are up in arms against the misuse and misappropriation of public funds in the tendered work for the construction of the nullah behind ESI Hospital in Margao.
Locals have alleged gross misuse and misappropriation of public funds by the Water Resources Department (WRD).
In a letter to the Chief Minister, Savio Coutinho has requested the CM for an appointment at the earliest to hear their grievances. Coutinho said that they have been consistently raising the issue. “We have filed complaints before every possible forum connected with the construction of this nullah behind ESI Hospital in Margao. However none of the concerned authorities seems to have taken cognizance of the complaints, and the work still continues”, he stated.
He claimed that the WRD seems to be conveniently unaware of the requirement for the improvement in the hydraulics of the nullah from the old railway station to ESI Hospital, which in fact is the actual cause of flooding along the old station road. But instead, they prefer to spend nearly Rs 81 crores of public funds to construct a nullah to benefit private real estate developers.
The roadside drains along the old station road, empty into a nullah which passes below the railway tracks and flows downstream behind ESI hospital.
“The same amount of Rs 81 crores could well be used to improve the nullah from ESI Hospital road to the old railway station but the people connected with this work will not do so because vested interests are far more important than public interest”, Coutinho stated.
It is very much true that the government wastes a lot of time and public money in defending cases filed by NGOs. “We would like to appeal to the government, to make a law, that all the expenses incurred in defending such frauds should be recovered from culprits”, Coutinho suggested.
