PANJIM: After beach cleaning exposure, the Goa Forward party mentors are slated to file complaints regarding the Saligao garbage treatment plant and National Highway garbage cleaning project irregularities before the Goa Lokayukta in October.
Speaking to media persons, Goa Forward party mentor and Independent MLA Rohan Khaunte claimed both NH garbage cleaning project and Saligao garbage treatment plant are the biggest scams, which would be placed before Lokayukta for investigation.
“We are currently in the process of gathering relevant documents exposing the scam. There are large-scale irregularities in both the projects, where ruling MLAs are involved,” he informed.
During the recently concluded Monsoon session of the State Legislative Assembly, party mentors — Khaunte and Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai along with Congress MLA Digambar Kamat had exposed the fact that government would shell out nearly Rs 400 crore over the next decade to the contractor in form of capital and operational grants towards the solid waste treatment facility at Saligao. The contractor, SMC Infrastructure Pvt Ltd, has spent only Rs 149 crore as a construction cost on the project.
“We have learnt that contractor charges garbage handling cost of Rs 1,512 per ton per day from the government. If 100 tonnes of waste is handled per day, see the total cost involved,” Khaunte pointed out without elaborating in detail.
The Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation (GSIDC) is the nodal agency in cleaning of national highways. It has appointed a Pune-based company BVG India Ltd to collect garbage along the highways.
