Book listing Goa government’s achievements under scanner

PANAJI - Goa Chief Minister Digambar Kamat Wednesday ordered a probe into alleged corruption in the publishing of a book listing the achievements of the Congress-led alliance state government on completion of two years in power.

I will ask the chief secretary to initiate a probe into this matter and submit a report, Kamat, also minister for information and publicity, said during question hour after he was heckled by the opposition over the publication of the book by the directorate of information and publicity (DIP).

Earlier, Leader of Opposition Manohar Parrikar alleged a scam in the Rs.23 lakh deal struck by the DIP for publishing 40,000 copies of the book.

What kind of a government is this? There is corruption even in the book of achievements which they have published, Parrikar said, adding that two sets of books were published in collusion with the DIP officials.

One set of 3,000 books which was given to VIPs had 44 pages, while 37,000 copies circulated in municipalities, panchayats, libraries etc. had only 23 published pages. The tender issued by the department was for 40,000 copies of the book with 44 pages. This is direct evidence of corruption, the former chief minister said, adding that the revenue saved by the publishing house, on printing ink and paper on the 37,000 copies was shared with DIP officials.