Ruckus in Goa Assembly over beach cleanliness 'scam'

Goa Assembly today witnessed a ruckus with Opposition rushing to the Well demanding a probe into the alleged beach cleanliness "scam", forcing Speaker Anant Shet to adjourn the House twice during Question Hour.
Independent legislators Rohan Khaunte, Vijai Sardessai, Naresh Sawal and Congress' Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco demanded an inquiry into the alleged beach cleanliness "scam" and rushed to the Well of the House when Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar refused to order a probe.
The issue was raised by Independent legislator Rohan Khaunte, who alleged the beach cleanliness contract awarded to a private firm was a "multi-crore scam".
He demanded a CBI or judicial inquiry into the "scam", claiming that crores of rupees of the state exchequer were spent on the contract.

Refuting the allegation, Chief Minister Parsekar said it was not a scam, and that annually Rs 9 crore was spent on cleaning the entire beach stretch of the state.
He said the contractor was selected after giving nationwide advertisement for the job.

Parsekar said the contractor, who was employed by the government between 2009-12, had received strictures from the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) following which the new firm was selected through a proper bidding process.
"All precautions were taken to ensure the loopholes pointed out by the CAG are plugged during the new contract," he said.
Khaunte, however, was not happy with the reply and stuck to his demand for a CBI or judicial probe.

Congress legislator and former Chief Minister Digambar Kamat, lobbying with Khaunte, questioned as to why the contractor was paid for mechanical cleaning when he had not used machines to clean the beaches.
The House witnessed a heated discussion when Sardessai, Sawal and Reginaldo joined the arguments. They later rushed to the Well forcing the Speaker to adjourn the House for 10 minutes.
When the House resumed, the entire Opposition benches, except Leader of Opposition Pratapsingh Rane, rushed to the Well and the House was again adjourned for ten minutes.
When the House reassembled, Speaker Anant Shet asked the members to be responsible.

"Question Hour is a very important part of the business. We are responsible for the people and their issues should be raised. If we behave like this we will be wasting time of the House," he said.