Goa Lokayukta stays power contracts worth Rs 332 cr

Goa Lokayukta today ordered a stay on contracts worth Rs 332 crore being planned to be executed by Electricity Department after opposition Congress complained of "irregularities" in tendering process.
Lokayukta Justice (Retd) P K Misra today issued notices tothe state Power Minister, the Chief Secretary, the Secretaries of Departments of Finance and Power and Chief Electrical Engineer, asking them to remain present before it on October 17.
A team of Congress leaders, led by its state spokesman Sunil Kawathankar, had approached Lokayukta claiming irregularities in the tendering process worth Rs 332 crore.
While issuing the notice, Lokayukta asked the Chief Electrical Engineer and the Power Secretary "not to award the contracts as indicated in the complaint."

In his complaint, Kawthankar had alleged that "tenders worth Rs 332.14 crores were awarded fraudulently and (by) manipulating, rigging and throwing all laws, rules and procedures to the wind to siphon off and pocket money from public exchequer in the name of development.