The Goa Lokayukta has begun examining documents filed by Independent legislator Rohan Khaunte as part of his complaint alleging multi-crore scam in beach cleaning.
The legislator, in a complaint filed before Goa Lokayukta, Justice (Retd) P K Misra, had alleged involvement of state Tourism Minister Dilip Parulekar into the “scam”. He had alleged fraud in awarding of contracts and in their execution.
However, Parulekar had rubbished the charges and said he would welcome any kind of investigation.
“The process to scrutinise various documents produced by Khaunte as part of the complaint has begun. The documents submitted by him are voluminous and it will take time before the scrutiny is completed,” a senior official in the Lokayukta office said today.
In his complaint, Khaunte had alleged that the scam involving the minister caused a loss of Rs 14 crore to the exchequer.
Khaunte, who represents Povorim constituency, said the complaint is based on the information obtained under the Right to Information (RTI) Act and replies submitted by the government in the Assembly.
In the complaint, he has also named officials of the ranks of director and deputy director in the Tourism Department.
The contracts for cleaning the beaches have been awarded to Bhumika Cleantech Services and Ram Cleaners and Developers.
The legislator has demanded the contracts be terminated immediately so as to prevent further “drain” on the exchequer, and the money already paid to the contractors for “the works not done” be recovered.
He has also demanded a fresh tender be issued after scaling down the minimum requirement for bidding so that local contractors could also participate.
“The cleaning job is not being done properly and bills are being inflated,” he alleged in the complaint.
Khaunte said the tender was issued when Manohar Parrikar was chief minister of the state.
“Parrikar had noted on the file that tender is messed up, but did not stop it,” he alleges. COR NP TIR