Stop paying beach-cleaning firms: Lokayukta to tourism dept

PANAJI: Lokayukta P K Misra on Wednesday directed the tourism department to stop payments to companies cleaning Goa’s beaches till further orders. This comes in light of allegations by Porvorim MLA Rohan Khaunte, social activist Aires Rodrigues and citizen Suraj Borkar that the beach-cleaning project was a multi-crore scam.
Misra also issued a notice to the tourism department instructing it to produce the entire beach cleaning file, while the director of vigilance has been asked to file a detailed report on the investigation conducted into the complaint filed by Rodrigues on May 18 last year.
Rodrigues told TOI that the Goa Lokayukta has ordered the director of tourism to stop payments to Ram Engineering and Construction Company and to Bhumika Cleantech Services Private Limited. Both companies were entrusted with keeping the state’s beaches clean.