PORVORIM: As several projects under the Central government’s Swadesh Darshan scheme is pending, Tourism Department has put responsibility on Prisons Department for delaying procedures to develop the erstwhile Aguada Jail into tourism attraction.
In its written reply to starred question tabled in the House, Tourism Minister Manohar Ajgaonkar has blamed uncooperativeness from prisons officials.
“The project was delayed due to lack of cooperation from IG (Inspector General) Prisons who took an inordinate amount of time to transfer property to GTDC despite cabinet approval,” he said replying to a question by MLA Ramkrishna Dhavalikar on the projects under Development of Coastal Circuit under the Central scheme.
The work order of the project, estimated at around Rs 24.25 crore, was issued in March 2019, years after former tourism minister Dilip Parulekar had proposed to develop the jail into a tourism attraction.
The minister informed that an application to IG Prisons pertaining to the proposal was sent on July 22, 2017 while the property was handed over only on July 8, 2019 – delay by two years. Similarly, the ASI permission was sought on May 31, 2016 whereas permission from Town & Country Planning was sought on April 26, 2018. “Waiting for clearance from TCP as on date. Delay of 3.7 years and still counting,” the reply stated.
Despite the delay, the Tourism Department is committed to completing the project by June 2020.
The Goa government was sanctioned Rs 99 crore approx by the Centre way back on June 1, 2016. The time period lapsed in June 2019 even as the Centre has extended the deadline by another year till June 30, 2020.
While quite a few projects are complete, rest are scheduled for completion by March or June 2020.
