Goa: Opposition demands probe into ‘diversion’ of relief fund

PORVORIM: Fatorda GFP MLA Vijai Sardesai demanded during Question Hour on Monday that the Central Bureau of Investigation or a specially constituted house committee investigate the Labourgate scam, which involved the alleged diversion of relief funds meant for construction labourers to BJP karyakartas.
Chief minister Pramod Sawant, however, said there was no need for an inquiry.
“This is the worst scam,” Sardesai said in the legislative assembly. “How did the BJP karyakartas become labourers?”
Labour minister Jennifer Monserrate said the opposition should stop calling the matter a scam as there was nothing fraudulent about it. She said the Goa Building and Other Construction Workers (GBOCW) Welfare Board Assistance Scheme-Covid-19 has 13,437 beneficiaries, of which 1,744 transactions had failed because of incomplete bank details.
While pointing out that names of politicians had figured in the list of the scheme’s beneficiaries, Siolim GFP legislator Vinod Paliencar said the labour minister had shared information about the dole on social media, which most construction labourers do not use. “Instead, BJP workers received knowledge of the scheme,” he said.
Paliencar said a fisherman from his constituency has been listed as a painter under the scheme. “I want to know who has followed the wrong procedure; the chief minister, chief secretary, labour secretary, labour minister or labour commissioner,” he said. “Tax payers want to know how the government has spent their money.”
Opposition leader Digambar Kamat, questioned the appointment of a company, Labournet to train workers in the unorganised sector. “Only the company appears to have been paid. The trainees have not even received certificates,” he said. The CM said a departmental inquiry has been initiated.