PANAJI: The anti-corruption branch (ACB) of the vigilance department has still not been able to complete its investigation of the controversial allotment of land for special economic zones (SEZ) even after investigating the case over the course of the last 13 years.
In 2012, the ACB had registered a first information report (FIR) based on a complaint by the then deputy general manager (law) of the Goa Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC), Mandar Shirodkar, on the “arbitrary and illegal allotment of land” to seven parties for SEZs.
A senior officer disclosed that the case is still “under investigation”.
The complaint states that the allotment was done by hatching a criminal conspiracy, and involved manipulation of documents, cheating govt and causing loss to the exchequer in connivance with some “GIDC officials and other unknown private/public servants”.
The ACB, in the FIR, mentioned the names of seven companies — Meditab Specialities Pvt Ltd, Peninsular Pharma Research Centre Pvt Ltd, K Raheja Corporation Pvt Ltd, Paradigm Logistic and Distribution Pvt Ltd, Inox Mercantile Co Pvt Ltd, Planet View Mercantile Co Pvt Ltd, and Maxgrow Finlease Pvt Ltd — which were allotted land during 2006-07. Further, the FIR also mentioned unknown officials of the GIDC, a govt of Goa undertaking, an unknown private person, and a public servant.
BJP, when it was in the opposition, supported a people’s agitation against SEZs in general and even made the issue its main focus during the 2007 South Goa Lok Sabha byelection. The then chief minister Digambar Kamat scrapped the SEZs after bowing to locals’ demands, despite reactions from the industry.
In Aug 2016, former chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar assured the members of the state legislative assembly that the ACB would be asked to expedite the investigation and submit the report. When he was the opposition leader, former chief minister Manohar Parrikar alleged that SEZ allotments were a major fraud and that those responsible should be taken to task.
The SEZ issue also figured in the monsoon session of the state legislative assembly in 2016, and BJP MLAs demanded action against those responsible for the “scam”
