Panaji: Goa’s political landscape is heated with controversy as Opposition leader Vijay Sardesai has made serious allegations against IT Minister Rohan Khaunte, implicating him in a broadband scam and indirectly involving Chief Minister Pramod Sawant. Sardesai accused Khaunte of mishandling the Goa Broadband Network (GBBN) contract with United Telecom Ltd (UTL), suggesting a nexus of corruption and administrative malpractice.
Sardesai has called for a judicial inquiry into the alleged scam, threatening to approach the judiciary if the government fails to take action. He highlighted that the GBBN contract with UTL expired in July 2019 after ten years of inconsistent service. Instead of seeking a new vendor, the contract was extended by a year. Sardesai claimed that Khaunte, the IT Minister at the time, noted the necessity of obtaining the council of ministers' approval in his files, but this process was bypassed.
During the assembly session on Wednesday, Sardesai accused the Department of Information Technology of a Rs 182 crore scam related to the contract's extension. He pointed out that the contract, initially set to end in 2019, was flagged by a 2015 Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) report for poor and unstable connectivity. Despite recommendations from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to replace the service provider and warnings from the Finance Department about technical deviations and high fees, the government extended the contract until July 2027, ignoring these significant concerns.
Sardesai questioned the rationale behind extending the contract by Rs 182 crore, especially given the Finance Department’s warning about technical non-compliance. He alleged that the decision to extend the contract was made by overruling the Finance Department’s recommendation against it. This decision, Sardesai argued, exemplifies a disregard for financial and technical norms, raising suspicions of deeper corruption within the IT ministry and the government at large.
The allegations have stirred significant political debate, with calls for accountability and transparency in the management of public contracts. The Goa government is yet to respond to Sardesai's demands for a judicial inquiry into the matter.