Goemkarponn desk
PANAJI: Goa Pradesh Congress Committee on Tuesday demanded a heritage conservation committee to assess the damage done to the heritage building of Mormugao Municipal Council and also demanded filing of FIR against the contractor and Urban Development Minister Milind Naik.
GPCC, president addressing a press conference, said the FIR needs to be filed for defacement, damage and fraud in the heritage building restoration scam, scope of work, estimate made before tender of heritage building restoration works need to be made public.
Chodankar said the GSUDA paid Rs 9 crores for the project of MMC building renovation and demanded to know the details of the agreement between GSUDA and MMC on the project.
“Why is UD Minister silent on the allegations of scam made by his own BJP Colleague Carlos Almeida? Who has permitted the contractor to take away the wood, which is over 100 years old and has been there since the Portuguese era sustaining all the weather conditions and incessant rains all these years? How much of this antique teak wood was removed, and what was done with the wood?” he asked.
He said the people want to know if the wood is sold and, if so, at what rate and to who and where are the sale proceeds?
“We want to know if the contract was designed in such a way where the contractor was allowed to clear the wood and keep the proceeds for himself as an additional revenue despite the sum of Rs 9 crores paid to GSUDA,” he said.
He said that every piece of the MMC building is worth great value as it is a part of the heritage complex, and hence there has to be clarification on what has been taken by the contractor as of now and with whose permission this has been allowed.
GPCC Vice-president Sankalp Amonkar said that Milind Naik is always involved in scams, and this is nothing new for him.
“Congress has exposed various scams, but he has been saved by the CM every time, forcing us to think that CM may also be a part of all his scams. We have also exposed several of his scams, including the involvement in Nu Shi Nalini Naptha ship, theft of iron ore in Port, Ganesh Benzoplast scam, garbage treatment plant scam, Naptha scam, governments land-grabbing scam for building his own house and others which are still pending for enquiry till date with the blessing of CM Dr Pramod Sawant,” Amonkar said.
He said Naik has always been instrumental in ruining the people’s livelihoods and small businessmen by gross misuse of power.
