Margao: Taking a dig at the BJP-led government in Goa, the Aam Aadmi Party today said it now has a “zero tolerance to anti-corruption” rather than ‘zero tolerance to corruption’.
“After being promised ‘zero tolerance to corruption’ by then chief minister Manohar Parrikar, the people of Goa are watching with disbelief that the government is consistently delivering ‘zero tolerance to anti-corruption’,” said Valmiki Naik, ad-hoc secretary of AAP, Goa.
He alleged that the government has “systematically disabled” anti-corruption mechanisms after assuming the office.
“…Whether it is deliberately keeping the office of the Lokayukta vacant or delaying the appointment of RTI Commissioners, or the latest brazen shunting out of officers from the Anti-Corruption Bureau. In a shocking display of hypocrisy, police inspector Nolasco Raposo, an officer with a proven track record of trapping the corrupt, was inexplicably transferred out of the ACB last month during ‘Vigilance Awareness Week’ itself,” Naik said.
He said superintendent of police Bosco George was shunted out yesterday even though he had not completed three years in the position.
Naik alleged that the transferred police officers were handling many cases involving high-profile or politically-connected persons that include chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar’s brother-in-law and GIDC field officer Dilip Malvankar who was caught red-handed accepting a bribe of Rs 1 lakh.
He said politicians of both the Congress and BJP were “interfering” in functioning of police.
“Politicians of all mainstream parties have further demoralised and demotivated the entire police force by fostering a culture of nepotism, mismanagement and corruption for their own narrow gains.
“Crores of public money is spent on Goa Police to provide elaborate security and conveniences for politicians, but the common man of Goa continues to suffers from rampant corruption, rising crimes, and draconian uses of section 144 (CrPc),” the AAP leader alleged.