Land grabbing cases in Goa were treated casually by police: Pramod Sawant

Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant Monday said the state govt would not have had to form a special investigation team to probe land grabbing cases if the police had not treated these incidents casually

Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Monday said the state government would not have had to form a special investigation team to probe land grabbing cases if the police had not treated these incidents casually.

The chief minister said some land grabbing cases were registered 15 years ago with respective police stations, but they were treated casually by officers.

These complaints were treated like routine ones, which is why we had to form a special investigation team (land) to probe them. Land grabbing had started in the state 15 years ago, Sawant said.

The chief minister was addressing the state secretaries and heads of various departments on the occasion of Vigilance Awareness Week at Porvorim, near here.

Sawant further said that a delay in processing files is also anti-government attitude.

Sometimes officers claim that they are not corrupt, but they delay processing of files and by doing that, they are incurring losses to the state. This type of behaviour is equally corrupt, he said.

If the subordinate staffers perform their duties in a timely manner, 99 per cent cases will not reach the seniors and people would not have to approach ministers, the chief minister said.

Over the last three months, the state government has activated the department of public grievances inviting people to send their complaints online and offline, he said.

The department has received 306 complaints in three months, of which 70 per cent have been addressed by concerned officers, he added.