Ferreira slams govt Over ‘wasteful’ Rs 5.7cr Atal Setu painting plan

MAPUSA: Aldona Congress MLA Adv Carlos Alvares Ferreira has slammed the state government for spending crores of rupees on wasteful expenditure while ignoring priority works like road repairs and the maintenance of existing projects such as the Corjuem bridge.

Ferreira pointed out that the Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC) plans to spend Rs 5.7 crores on artistic painting and the beautification of the Atal Setu, terming it as “shocking”. He said that the proposal includes cleaning the bridge painting area, application of primary and protective elastomeric coating on bridge piers and pier caps, along with artistic work aimed at enhancing the visual appeal of the bridge.

“This is nothing but a wasteful expenditure of public money with wrong focus on priorities, especially when our Prime Minister has requested for austerity measures due to financial crunch affecting the nation. When roads, electricity and water are the basic needs and require priority attention, public funds cannot be used for such wasteful expenditure. The government needs to stop this tender and prioritise the requirements for basic infrastructure development,” he said.

Stating that the Goa government does not seem to have its priorities right, the MLA said that when the Formula 4 racing event was held, the government spent Rs 57 crores overnight.

“Similarly, when there was the FIDE chess championship, the government immediately made infrastructure of roads and hotmixing available so that no embarrassment is caused to them. We are waiting for our roads to be done. Files are going up and down for years and then they finally say no funds. I am going to follow it up next week on why there are no funds when there is money for all these kinds of events. When you are spending on these things it is like Rome is burning and Nero is fiddling,” he said.

“The Corjuem bridge railings are crumbling. Notices, letters, work orders have been issued, but nothing has improved. Some superficial painting is done even on the rusted portions. I had stopped it as it is a waste of public money. We need funds which are supposed to be allocated. For us as MLAs, they are not being made available. Don’t we need to put this money on infrastructure development and maintenance of existing projects? You want people to have fun and entertainment while every infrastructure has collapsed,” he said.

Ferreira also warned that after two fuel price hikes soon after polls, another one will come by the end of this month .

“People want an explanation on what is going on in this government. While on one hand you talk about cutting these convoys of yours, that’s not all. Austerity measures include prioritising what is needed for the common man and infrastructure is the top most which is needed instead of artistic decoration of a bridge. Stop this. Put your priorities right and that way people will be happy. This way you are simply finishing the people’s money and the cost of living is going up. I don’t trust this government. They need to act for the sake of the people,” he added.