PONDA: Marcaim MLA and former PWD minister Ramakrishna (Sudin) Dhavalikar urged the government to seize the grounded ship Nu Shi Nalini and auction.
Addressing a press conference on Sunday at Kundai, Dhavalikar said that the government spent over Rs 90 crore to remove M V River Princess that got grounded off Candolim Beach some years ago.
“Therefore, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant should be cautious and avoid such situation with respect to the naphtha laden Nu Shi Nalini grounded off Dona Paula Beach,” he said.
“Nu Shi Nalini should not be another River Princess. The chief minister should seize the ship, auction it and earn revenue to government coffer,” he said.
“Some years ago, when River Princess got grounded off Candolim Beach, it cost the government Rs 90 crore to remove the same. The fund was provided by Central government. When a private party requested the government to allow him to remove the ship and was willing to pay the government Rs 35 crore, the government failed to accept the request. Finally, it cost Rs 90 crore to remove the grounded ship. Had the government taken right decision, Rs 90 crore could have been saved then,” he said.
“Now, a similar incident has happened. Therefore, the government should auction the ship and naphtha and earn revenue,” he said.
Questioning how the naphtha laden ship could come to Goa, he alleged that it is scam and should conduct an inquiry.
“Two companies that were using naphtha as fuel are not consuming it. The Reliance Power which was using naphtha has shut down its operation and the Zuari Agro Chemicals is using gas instead of naphtha,” he informed.
He said that the grounded ship is laden with naphtha worth Rs 16 crore.
“This should be auctioned first,” he said.
“Even if naphtha is pumped out from the ship, removing the vessel from sea would cost Rs 100 crore. But by auctioning the ship, the government can earn revenue of Rs 100 crore,” he said.
On the occasion, the MLA provided financial aid to around 190 flood affected farmers at Kundai whose paddy crop was destroyed.
He also demanded that the government to immediately reconstruct the breached “bandharas” in Marcaim and Kundai.
He claimed that breaching of “bandharas” led to flooding of fields and destruction of paddy crop worth Rs 1 crore. He also appealed to the government to provide financial aid to the farmers at the earliest.
