NT NETWORK
PANAJI
Categorically denying that he, as the chief minister and finance minister had blocked any proposal from the public works department relating to the Swachh Bharat Mission, former chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar on Sunday said that a lot of government money has been squandered by the PWD through haphazard construction of toilets around Goa under the SBM, and furthermore, only 20 per cent of such toilets, which actually reached the completion stage, are being used for the purpose they were built.
Parsekar was responding to the recent allegation made by Minister for Public Works Department Ramakrishna ‘Sudin’ Dhavalikar that he, as the then chief minister and finance minister had not cleared a number of proposals of the PWD pertaining to the construction of toilets under the particular central government scheme.
Speaking to ‘The Navhind Times’, Parsekar said that he had never blocked any file of the PWD as regards projects to be taken under the SBM, more so as the Mission is one of the flagship schemes of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s government at the Centre and a brainchild of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which has Governor Mridula Sinha as one of the SMB ambassadors.
“However, as the chief minister, I interacted with Dhavalikar from time to time over judicious use of the precious government funds in construction of toilets under the Swachh Bharat Mission, besides on two other issues namely increasing encroachments on the PWD roads and staff recruitment procedure followed in his department,” Parsekar informed, mentioning that the PWD had miserably failed on all these three aspects.
“In fact, I had shared my concern with Dhavalikar about the PWD roads, which form lifeline of the state’s development and were being continuously encroached,” the former chief minister stated, adding that the staff recruitment procedure in that department was also in shambles, with the PWD going for outsourcing, instead of making use of the PWD Labour Supply Society.
“I would also like to mention here that many of such outsourcing agencies were owned by the relatives of the senior engineers working in the public works department,” he revealed.
Parsekar said that Dhavalikar neither carried out study about the requirement of toilets in rural
areas, not considered the distance of the toilets constructed under the SBM from the residences of the beneficiaries.
“This resulted in a number of such toilets being left halfway, at various stages of construction, right from laying of foundation to building walls,” he maintained, noting that many of these toilets which were able to reach the completion stage, were found to be constructed 500 mts away or at longer distance from the houses, and are being used for purposes such as storing farming implements and so on.
The former chief minister also stated that since these toilets were constructed 500 mts away or at a longer distance from the houses of the beneficiaries, most of whom are tenants, they did not fall under the jurisdiction of the Tenancy Act, and therefore, were opposed by landlords or communidades, as the case may be.
“This resulted in unfinished constructions, in turn wasting the government funds,” he observed.
On a parting note, Parsekar quipped that everything changes in democracy including political parties in power and the chief ministers; however, what does not change in Goan democracy is the PWD minister. “Therefore, Dhavalikar, who has been continuously holding the PWD portfolio for long should take credit for all successes as well as failures in his department, during past many years, and should not try to push the failures of his department on others,” he concluded.