Margao Congress Block, led by Savio Coutinho, staged a protest at the PWD office in Panjim, demanding an inquiry into an alleged multi-crore scam related to infrastructure works undertaken for the Viksit Bharat program and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Margao on February 6, 2024.
Coutinho accused PWD officials of inflating work measurements and fabricating expenses, leading to massive misappropriation of public funds. Citing an RTI response, he alleged that the official records do not match the actual work executed on-site.
“The bills claim 16 JCBs, 16 tipper trucks, and 115 workers were deployed for 10 days near the Kadamba bus stand. Was this a construction project or a grand machinery parade for the Prime Minister?” Coutinho questioned.
Among the suspected fraudulent works, the Congress leader highlighted:
Hotmixing of roads from Collector’s office to Arlem (₹4.31 Cr): Over 2,000 RCC slabs were billed but are missing from the site.
SGPDA Ground Improvement (₹7.23 Cr): Inconsistencies in hotmix layering, with fresh carpeting done months later for an event, raising questions about fund utilization.
Kadamba Bus Stand Hotmixing (₹4.94 Cr): The contract was given to a firm whose license was suspended in 2022. Additionally, ₹70 lakh worth of work was already completed separately by another contractor.
Temporary Bus Stand Construction: The project is listed as completed, yet no bills have been submitted, leading to suspicions of ghost payments.
Coutinho, along with Margao Congress leaders, challenged the PWD to conduct a joint site inspection to verify the alleged discrepancies. “Public money has been looted, and we demand immediate recovery of the losses,” he asserted.
