Despite protests from many quarters about the beach cleaning contract being a scam…the government continues to work with them !
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/Contract-over-but-beach-cleaning-contractors-continue/articleshow/52314521.cms
Tourism department allowed beach cleaning contractors, Ram Cleaners and Developers Pvt Ltd , and M/s Bhumika Clear Tech Services, to continue to work until further orders even as their 15-month period of the contract expired in December 2015.
The five-year contract is renewable after every 15 months. The government allowed the two agencies to continue despite the allegations of excessive spending on beach cleaning on the grounds that there was no alternative arrangement to clean beaches if contracts with the existing agencies were terminated midway.
But, it looks like the government is in no mood to disengage services of the two agencies come what may, though the pending bills of the two contractors have not been cleared since June 2015. Sanjeev Gauns Dessai , tourism director, said two contractors are keeping the beaches clean. Whatever bills cleared earlier were minus services not carried out as mandated in the agreement. He said a sub-committee appointed to examine bills raised by beach cleaning agencies has not yet given its report.
Till July 2015, tourism department paid 8.20 crore to the two contractors minus deductions for irregularities in the beach cleaning to the tune of 2.89 crore. Monitoring committee, which is required to rate the two agencies on the basis of their performance, has not done its job either. Tourism officials are tightlipped why the monitoring committee is shying away from giving a rating to the two agencies.
“If the monitoring committee had given its ratings, the government would have been compelled to terminate the contract. The government has no wish to terminate services of the two agencies, and hence the dilly dallying,” he said.
Adv Suhas Naik of All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) blames the government for present situation. The government has not only failed to fulfill assurances it made to lifeguards when they were on indefinite strike earlier this year, but it also did not show any willingness to discuss the matter with us. “We were not given an appointment to meet chief minister,” he said adding government has gone back on their promises.