CLEANING THE STATE COFFERS AND NOT GOA’S BEACHES

Former Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar left behind a huge string of scams and slipped off to be the Defence Minister. Thanks to the Right to Information Act the alleged multi crore beach cleaning scam has come to light.

A complaint was last year filed with the Vigilance department seeking a meticulous probe into the role of Avdhoot Parrikar in this fraud as the beach cleaning contract was awarded while his elder brother Manohar Parrikar was the Chief Minister.  Though the name of Avdhoot Parrikar does not figure anywhere in the official papers,  there is enough evidence that he  has been the man behind the scene attending meetings between the beach cleaning contractors and government officials details of which have been given to the Vigilance department.

In the complaint it has been sought that  a F.I.R be registered against Goa’s Tourism Minister Dilip Parulekar, Managing Director of Goa Tourism Development Corporation Nikhil Dessai who often officiates as Director of Tourism, Manish Mohata owner of Ram Engineering and Construction Company and Bhumika Clean Tech Pvt Ltd, and Avdhoot Parrikar the brother of former Chief  Minister Manohar Parrikar in connection with this  alleged multi-crore scam  in the tender of the so called Comprehensive Management of Cleanliness of Goa beaches.

It has been sought that the F.I.R. be registered under Sec. 420, 120 (b) of Indian Penal Code for cheating the State and criminal conspiracy in connivance with the contractors and also under Sec.7, 8, 9 & 13 (1) (d) read with Section13 (2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988 for abusing official position for pecuniary gains besides abetting corruption.

Documents obtained under the Right to Information Act had revealed that the Goa Government in September 2014 while Manohar Parrikar was the Chief Minister, awarded the contract of Comprehensive Management of cleanliness of North Goa Beaches to Bhumika Cleantech Services Pvt Ltd at a annual cost of Rs 7,51,40,999 and the cleaning of South Goa beaches to Ram Cleansers & Developers Pvt Ltd at a cost of Rs 7,04,87,999 with both the companies being owned by Manish Mohata.

This so called scientific beach cleaning  contract was awarded to these little known companies at a very exorbitant annual rate of Rs.14.56 crores though for the earlier years the cleaning of Goa beaches was costing the State Government an average of a mere two crores annually.

In the name of scientific cleaning these contractors have totally neglected the beaches, with heaps of garbage seen everywhere and the contractors burning non-biodegradable waste on the beaches while other waste strewn in the vegetation and sand dumped on it to hide the buried waste.  Given to the Vigilance departments are  over 150 photographs of beaches across Goa showing that the contractors were high-handedly destroying the flora and fauna on the beaches and the fragile eco-system by digging pits and burning garbage on Government property while flouting the Central and State Pollution control board guidelines.

These so called beach cleaning companies  roped in by Tourism Department have failed to fulfill even the minimum terms and conditions laid down in the tender documents and while submitting bills have given fake names of staff besides seeking payments for works not executed. The 4000 sq mt land at Saligao given to these contractors for segregation and disposal of waste has been recklessly turned into another Sonsoddo like garbage dump.

The Tourism department has been in a fast forward mode to release the payments to the contractors while in connivance with some corrupt officials even the length and the breath of the beaches have been manipulated. For example the Vagator, Vozrant and Anjuna stretch which though only 3kms had been shown as 7kms.

This entire multi-crore scam must be thoroughly investigated with the guilty punished and recovery proceedings initiated against the tainted officials involved while the services of these fraudulent contractors should be immediately terminated if the Government wants to prove its bonafides on its much publicized mantra of Zero Tolerance to Corruption.