Goa: Return candidates’ money or will name names, demands GFP

PANAJI: BJP functionaries, middlemen and “agents” who took money from candidates for the 350 PWD junior engineers’ posts should immediately return the money, demanded GFP on Wednesday. The party said that it will address a press conference with the candidates and present evidence of the bribes taken if the candidates do not get their hard-earned money back.
GFP’s environment cell convenor Vikas Bhagat said that the party will also raise the issue in the coming monsoon assembly session. “The PWD recruitment is something that we always said has been extremely rigged. The candidates were asked for money in exchange for the jobs.”
“We demand that those who took money from the candidates should return the money immediately otherwise we will have a press conference with the candidates and we will name the people who took money. The middlemen, the agents, who ever took money.”
The state government on Tuesday told the high court that it has scrapped the selection list of PWD junior engineers.
Following allegations of corruption, chief minister Pramod Sawant in December put the recruitment fon hold until an inquiry was conducted. Candidates who cleared the exam but were not selected had alleged manipulation in selection and demanded scrapping of the recruitment process.
“Since yesterday, we have been getting a lot of calls from candidates asking how they should recover the money they paid to the middlemen for the PWD junior engineer jobs. We have also heard that two or three candidates have also been given their money back,” said Bhagat.
He has demanded that the recruitment of police sub inspectors also be scrapped due to similar rigging.
“We are ready to go to court. Our plea is that this government should not keep going to the court only to lose face. They need to really scrap the PSI posts also. When Manohar Parrikar was the chief minister and similar posts were advertised, the highest marks were 67% and now the candidates are getting 98% and 99%. How is it that the candidates became so intelligent in just five years,” said Bhagat.