Staff Reporter
Panaji
Revenue Minister and Panaji MLA Atanasio ‘Babush’ Monserrate has raised doubt over the quality of works that are being carried out in the capital city under Smart City projects.
Speaking to reporters in Porvorim, he said that substandard works are being carried out in the main Panaji city.
“As far as Smart City is concerned, substandard works are going on in main Panaji. I feel the people should not suffer due to these works,” he said, adding that the consultant has been paid `8 crore.
He further said that if anything goes wrong with regard to the works being carried out, the engineers and the contractors will be held responsible.
When media persons brought to his notice the difficulties being faced by people due to the traffic chaos the capital city is witnessing, Monserrate said the citizens will have to bear with the inconvenience for some time to get good facilities in the coming days.
“The Smart City works are being undertaken by different agencies such as the Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation, Goa State Urban Development Agency, public works department, sewerage corporation and electricity department. Till date, no work has been stopped. All works are going on,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Congress party on Wednesday stated that the acceptance by Monserrate forms an “exit alarm” for Minister for Urban Development Vishwajit Rane.
“It was already out in the open that the `1,000 crore plus amount spent on various works to convert Panaji into a smart city has actually transformed the capital city into dirt city,” it added.
Reacting to the statement of Monserrate, media cell chairman of the Goa Pradesh Congress Committee Amarnath Panjikar said, “This is an endorsement of the slogan ‘Mission Total Commission’ given by Congress to the Bharatiya Janata Party’s government in the state.”
“I want to remind the people of Goa about the expose by Monserrate, a year-and-a-half back as regards `70 crore recruitment scam involving junior engineers of the public works department, which eventually resulted in scrapping of these posts and sending home the then department minister Deepak Pauskar,” Panjikar said, pointing out, “I am sure that his latest revelation will force the Minister for Urban Development to pack his bags.”
He also said that the Smart City works carried out by the Imagine Panaji Smart City Development Limited (IPSCDL) have turned out to be unimaginable, and despite uproar in the media as well as protests staged by the Congress party and the residents of Panaji, the Minister for Urban Development has maintained complete silence.