Margao: Leader of Opposition Yuri Alemao has alleged that the BJP Government under Dr. Pramod Sawant seems to be least bothered about the pending receivables of 230.35 crores from 29 Companies handling and transporting Coal by Road from Goa.
“I demand that the Transport Minister Mauvin Godinho should clear by when this huge amount will be collected from the Companies which include Adani Enterprise, J.S.W Energy, Vedanta and others,” Alemao said.
Reacting to the recent Order passed by the Bombay High Court at Goa on Constitutional Validity of the Goa’s Green Cess Act, Leader of Opposition Yuri Alemao said “I welcome the Order of the High Court. I hope that the judgement will open the eyes of the BJP Government which has failed to recover pending dues from the Coal Handlers and Transporters.
I have information based on the replies given to my Legislative Assembly Questions which reveal that Government has not collected Revenue from 2014 onwards towards Goa Rural Improvement and Welfare Cess Act, 2000 from the Companies handling and transporting Coal in the State of Goa, pointed Yuri Alemao.
I had raised the issue in the last session of the Goa Legislative Assembly. Although the Transport Minister Mauvin Godinho tried to attribute non-collection of Revenue to the matter pending in the High Court, the documents provided to me exposed the fact that there is no stay from the Court on collection of the Revenue, claimed Yuri Alemao.
I am provided with few pages of documents pertaining to the Court Notice, replies and affidavits filed by the Government etc. Surprisingly the copy of the Writ Petition provided to me under Annexure D is without the Writ Petition Number. It has also come to light that only five out of 29 Companies have approached the Court disputing the collection of Cess by the Government. This shows that the Government is lenient on the big Companies, said Yuri Alemao.
It is sad that the Government acts swiftly against the poor people for defaulting on payment of Electricity and Water Bills. The same Government just keeps quiet on crores of Revenue receivable from the Crony Capitalists. This exposes anti-poor agenda of the BJP Government, said Yuri Alemao.
