Team Herald
PONDA: Former PWD Minister and Marcaim MLA Sudin Dhavlikar on Thursday rejected allegations made by Ponda MLA Ravi Naik that there is a scam in the Ponda Sewage Treatment Plant Work (STP).
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He added that he would welcome any inquiry into the long-pending work of the project and for the government to find out who is responsible for the same.
He also explained that at the initial stage, it was the Ponda municipality and Curti panchayat, which had given the NOCs, only to withdraw them later as they had raised objections to the sewerage connection work. “This is the reason why the STP work was delayed. A minister had also halted the work on the STP at Bandora, which stalled things further,” the former PWD minister stated.
He said Naik should be cooperating and looking at ensuring the work is completed instead of blaming him for no reason.
He also pointed out that the STP at Bandora and Kavlem were challenged in the Court but thtat the order had finally come in favour of this project.
He further rejected the allegations that the work on the Ponda STP had commenced without the land acquisition.
He explained that the total cost of various STPs in Ponda is Rs 570 crore and not even fifty percent amount is cleared yet.
Emphasizing upon the need for STPs in Ponda, he spoke about sewage and domestic waste has been released into the open and the nullahs, which later flow into the fields of Kavlem and Bandora.
The former Deputy Chief Minister also gave details about how the government had purchased land for the STPs and from whom.
He continued with his digs against the Ponda municipality and Curti panchayat by thanking Kavlem Sarpanch Rajesh Kavlekar on behalf of Pondaitees for allotting permission to set up STP in Kavlem for the treatment of municipal waste.
