Goemkarponn desk
PORVORIM: Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai today alleged a mega scam in the Goa Broadband Network while demanding details of the present status of Goa Broadband Network (GBBN).
Fatorda MLA Vijai also questioned the year-wise amount spent on GBBN along with the breakup of payments made to M/s United Telecom Limited and other contractors since 1st April 2020 till date.
Sardesai said the GBBN contract with United Telecom Ltd expired in July 2019 and for 10 years, the quality of the internet provided by M/s UTS through their network was unreliable.
“Before the expiry, the government should have been looking for a new vendor. Instead, in 2019, the contract was extended by one year,” he said.
Sardesai added that then the IT Minister, in his file notings, had clearly put remarks stating that the approval of the council of ministers may be taken.
“In a few days, the Minister was removed along with us from the Govt. The Chief Minister then approves the file without taking it to the cabinet. This is a major scam. I have the entire file under RTI,” said Vijai.
Vijai said that if you go through the notings wherein, the finance department even raised queries even after CM approved the file. He also demanded a judicial probe.
He stated that the department estimates that 327 crore will be needed in 2020 to implement Bharat Net, which would require a year.
Therefore, the contract was once more extended until July 21 by one year. It’s interesting to note that the contract was extended with the statement, “This will be extended until further arrangements are made to tender.”
According to Sardesai, United Telecom receives payments of Rs 22.86 crore annually.
He said these suggestions were disregarded. M/s UTS will get this contract every year till 2025. This is the year the government set a target to hand the broadband network over to Bharat Net.
Meanwhile, Information Technology (IT) Minister Rohan Khaunte refuted the claims.
