Goa sports minister quizzed in building collapse case

The probe into Goa's biggest ever building tragedy just got serious as Sports Minister Ramesh Tawadkar was questioned over the collapse of an under-construction building which killed more than 30 labourers.

Over the weekend, Ramesh Tawadkar, a legislator from Canacona, was questioned by a three-member committee, probing the collapse of the building within the Ruby Residency complex in Canacona, 90 km from here. The building collapse occurred in January this year.

The committee headed by retired IAS officer V.K. Jha had only asked the minister for information about the building complex because he had a flat there, Tawadkar told reporters outside the South Goa District Collectorate.

"They asked me for information about the construction. I live there. They thought I would be able to give them information," Tawadkar said.

The deaths in five-storey building's collapse is one of the biggest tragedies to have happened in Goa, but the two promoters of the company responsible for the project, Pardip Singh Birring and Jagdeep Sehgal, are still missing and on the run.

The opposition has accused Tawadkar of being in league with the promoters, after it was revealed that he had possession of two flats in the adjoining building.

Tawadkar has refuted the allegations, claiming he had bought the flats with his own "hard earned money".

A day after the collapse, even before police could start the investigation, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar claimed there was no "political corruption" involved in granting the permissions to Ruby Residency complex.