PANAJI
It’s done and dusted! The much-hyped renovation work of the iconic Kala Academy complex that was marred with controversy, forcing government to set up a panel to study the allegations pertaining to “corruption”, “irregularities”, and “illegalities, almost two years back, seems to have been forgotten both by the government and the opposition.
It’s been more than 24 months that the three-member technical committee is yet to submit its report- even after completion of the inquiry.
The committee, constituted in January 2023, was granted 60 days’ time to complete the inquiry and submit report to the Vigilance department with necessary recommendations. However, as per sources, the findings are compiled and report has been prepared and is awaiting submission.
The committee, under its new chairman WRD Chief Engineer Pramod Badami, met almost 15 times, recorded statements of various officials from the departments of PWD, Art and Culture and the contractors, to whom the works were awarded.
Badami, took charge in March, last year, after its former chairman - Principal of Goa Architectural College Dr Ashish Rege, retired in February, without conducting a single meeting. The first meeting was held in April, 2023.
Despite repeated contacts, Badami remained unavailable for comments.
Sources confirmed that the committee had scrutinized all the documents obtained from the Public Works Department (PWD) - the nodal agency for executing the renovation work, pertaining to the estimates and payments related to various renovation works of Kala Academy. The committee also went through the papers where work orders were issued on nomination without tendering process and the total expenditure involved in those works.
The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) as well as the Vigilance department in their inquiry, conducted in 2022, had concluded indicating prima facie scam in the entire work.
The Kala Academy building was renovated at a cost of Rs 56 crore and the allegation was of a Rs 49 crore scam. In September 2022, the Vigilance department had recommended the constitution of the technical team to examine the project. Before that, ACB submitted a similar report.
Minister for Art and Culture Govind Gaude had justified the nomination move on the Floor of the House and had cited Shah Jahan and the Taj Mahal to illustrate how a government project can be awarded without floating tenders. The remarks had attracted widespread criticism but the minister remained unfazed.
