PANJIM The controversial notification of the Public Works Department (PWD) imposing entry fees on local vehicles was signed by former Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar when he held the finance portfolio.
In a shocking revelation coming from the PWD, the draft of the notification was approved by the former chief minister and sent to the Law Department for its view, and remained pending with the Law Department for almost 10 months.
PWD Principal Chief Engineer D J S Borkar said that they had received the nod for the entry fees from the Law Department a month ago and that it was sent to the Law department in august 2014 after it had been approved by the then Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar.
He said that imposing the fee on local vehicles is a decision of the government and not of the PWD. “Based on instructions from the Goa government we drafted the notification and sent it for approval. It is only after the government’s approval that we issued the notification,” Borkar told Herald.
The controversial notification, which was issued on May 14, 2015, is presently under abeyance following oral instructions from Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar. However, Borkar has confirmed that there has been no written correspondence from the CM’s office till Monday evening to keep the notification in abeyance.
In this, the claim made by Parsekar to Herald on Monday that he was kept in the dark by the PWD over the notification proves correct.
The chief minister, speaking to Herald on Monday, had said, “Two to three years ago on the same issue there was havoc created by the affected stakeholders in the state. It should not have been done in this way, all the stakeholders holders should be taken into confidence before imposing such fees.”
The CM had admitted that the State needs the revenue but this is not the manner in which to increase revenue. He had also said that in the last six months since he has been chief minister he had not seen the file.
