TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: Dabolim MLA Mauvin Godinho, once again took on a Congress colleague and demanded action against former PWD minister Churchill Alemao over alleged misappropriation of department funds during erstwhile Congress rule. The demand was supported by BJP and Goa Vikas Party legislators.
Godinho, grilling PWD Minister Ramakrishna Dhavalikar over his failure to initiate inquiry and take necessary action against former PWD minister and other officials involved in PWD scam, alleged Dhavalikar’s involvement in the scam.
“By not taking action, you (minister) have become part of the scam. If you are not involved in it, then take action against the leader who headed PWD before you and come clean on it,” Godinho challenged Dhavalikar.
“If you can’t take action then say there is no scam in PWD,” the Dabolim MLA stated while participating in the discussion on cut motion moved on the PWD demand.
The face-off between Dabolim MLA and Dhavalikar was visible in the House, when Mauvin castigated government for its failure to come out with a policy over distribution of water tanks, the issue which received much attention during BJP’s tenure in the Opposition.
“You were supposed to come out with a scheme to distribute the water tanks. But nothing has been done so far,” he said, pointing to the inquiry into the scam.
While participating in the discussion, GVP Nuvem MLA Francisco Pacheco expressed his unhappiness over State government apathy in taking action against Churchill. He alleged political fixing between the Ruling and Opposition.
“We want government to take action against the contractor and engineers involved in PWD scam. But there is no action initiated against the leaders (politicians) involved in this scam. First let government take action against these big leaders,” Pacheco stated.
His colleague from Benaulim, Caetano Silva also demanded immediate action against the former PWD minister over his alleged involvement in various PWD scams, ranging from awarding work tenders to distribution of water tanks.
The demand was also supported by BJP MLA Vishnu Wagh. “BJP in its election manifesto had rightly said that the PWD has become a corruption house and we will clean it. But even after one year, we have not been able to clean it. Inquiry needs to be initiated,” he said.
