CHINCHINIM: The construction file of the proposed Panchayat Ghar cum Multipurpose Complex at Chinchinim, which includes a swimming pool and other sports amenities, has gone missing from the Panchayat Office. According to the Secretary of the Panchayat, there is no record of the file being inwarded in the Panchayat. However, the villagers of Chinchinim disagree.
Savio Lopes, resident of Chinchinim, informed Herald that the Panchayat had taken a resolution for the Complex and even the infrastructure of the project was paid however when he asked for the file under RTI, he got a response that the file was untraceable. The mystery deepened further when he got the same response from the TCP department towards his RTI application for the technical file of the proposed project.
However, after he met the TCP officials, they revealed that the file was found but some documents were missing from the file. Herald contacted the TCP officials who denied that the file was ever missing and that all the documents are in the file.
The file was planned by GSIDC. Interestingly, GSIDC too had informed Lopes last month that they don’t have their file for the Complex and that it was inwarded through the Panchayat.
Herald contacted an official from GSIDC who claimed that the Project is yet to receive government approval. In an LAQ by the local MLA last year, GSIDC stated that the project is foreclosed. The official didn’t confirm nor deny that the project file is missing. However, Herald accessed the plans prepared by GSIDC for the Panchayat Ghar cum sports complex.
Interestingly, the Secretary of the Chinchinim Panchayat claimed that there is no record of the file being inwarded in the Panchayat. “The file is regarding 2016 and I had joined in 2017. Someone had asked under RTI but we did not find that it was inwarded in our register. There is a TCP Order in which it states that whatever payment was made for the Panchayat Ghar cum Market complex is to be adjusted for Panchayat Ghar cum Multipurpose Complex.”, she informed
The Deputy Sarpanch Valentino Barreto claimed ignorance about the missing file. “I am new and I don’t know when it was entered. I was trying to get information from people who were there before but they say there is no entry”, he stated. Herald asked him whether an FIR has been lodged regarding the file to which he responded that he has not received any complaint about the file being missing.
Herald asked Savio Lopes if he will file the complaint for the missing file. “How can a citizen file a complaint for a file prepared by the Panchayat?”, he questioned. He hinted at a larger conspiracy stating that “We really don’t know who’s hand is there behind the files going missing at all the departments.”
