PANJIM:: Hours after the Kala Academy’s open-air auditorium’s stage roof crashed, Opposition MLAs and political parties on Monday alleged that the State’s premium art institution is another ‘monument of corruption’ that exposed the corrupt BJP government’s ‘mission total commission’.
Opposition MLAs and political parties demanded a judicial probe into the incident and that Art and Culture Minister Govind Gaude be sacked immediately.
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It may be recalled that the Kala Academy building is being renovated at a cost of Rs 56 crore without floating a tender and allegedly without following the laid down procedures. Irregularities and corruption have been alleged in the renovation works and Art and Culture Minister Govind Gaude has been at the centre of the controversy.
Demanding a judicial probe into the incident, Leader of Opposition Yuri Alemao said, “It is a very serious lapse on the part of the government. The (renovation) work which is being carried out is substandard. Kala Academy is another monument of corruption that exposes ‘mission total commission’ of the corrupt BJP government. We demand a judicial probe into massive corruption in Kala Academy renovation work.
We will raise this in the assembly session.”
Goa Forward Party president and Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai said, “The grand corruption Goa’s Shahjahans are perpetrating will eventually lead to the destruction of Goa. “The real Taj Mahal still stands because the real Shah Jahan was not on 40% commission. Will the minister who was defending this disaster quit and hand over the charge to someone clean and competent before the whole building collapses?”
Lokancho Adhar president Trajano D’Mello said, “It is negligence on the part of the government not to take care of the State-run buildings, especially those showing signs of weakness. Fortunately nobody was hurt in the Kala Academy incident. Our State’s heritage buildings collapsing are serious cause of concern.”
Expressing anger over the incident, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) State President Amit Palekar said, “It (Kala Academy incident) makes me angry today. This is the height of corruption and I feel Goans should wake up now. There is corruption in this government from top to bottom. When the leader is
corrupt, the bureaucracy becomes corrupt. Today the bureaucracy has reached a state that they don’t care about Goa and Goans.”
