Goemkarponn Desk
PANAJI:The State government has invited fresh tender for the much talked about beach cleaning project- which has been married by controversies ever since it was introduced almost a decade back.
In a fresh move, the tourism department has invited bids for providing comprehensive services for cleaning of the various beaches in Goa including collection, segregation, transportation and disposal of garbage, etc for a period of five years. The last date for submission of bids is September 13.
The total cost of the project is over Rs 90 crore. The technical bid of the project would be opened on September 16 and the opening of financial bids to the bidders would be informed accordingly.
In October 2019, the department awarded the beach cleaning contract to Bengaluru based firm Karnataka Commercial and Industrial Corporation (KCIC) Pvt Ltd- the contract that ended last year and was granted extension thereafter.
The beach cleaning contract has been marred with serious allegations of multi-crore scam which had prompted the Lokayukta to order an inquiry into the scam under the two contractors- Rame Cleaners and Developers and Bhumika Cleantec Services- who were the first to rope in for the project.
The State government thereafter ordered an inquiry through the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) into the scam- which saw no headway.
The beach cleaning issue has been the subject of serious debate, discussion, allegations and counter allegations during the successive BJP regime.
Despite crores of rupees being spent on beach cleaning, Goa’s 108 km long coastline continues to witness the heaps of garbage.