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Mahua Moitra accuses Goa CM of holding disproportionate assets, questions funds for quarry
In 2019, the Congress had accused Sawant of acquiring properties in neighbouring Dodamarg disproportionate to his known sources of income. Responding back then, Sawant said he had “nothing to hide”.
Trinamool Congress spokesperson and Goa in-charge Mahua Moitra on Friday accused Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant of holding disproportionate assets and questioning how Sawant, could afford to buy a stone quarry in Maharashtra when his only known source of income before he joined politics was from his occupation as a government Ayurvedic doctor.
Moitra released a document issued by the regional deputy director of Geology and Mining which approves the ‘mining plan’ based on an application filed by Pramod Sawant for his stone quarry in Dodamarg, a village in Maharashtra that lies along the Goa-Maharashtra border.
“The letter clearly shows that Pramod Sawant, as the CM of Goa, got a mine in his name in Sindhudurg district in Maharashtra. But the big question is, where did he get the money to lease a mine if he was an Ayurvedic doctor with the government? The Central Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement Directorate should probe as to how a sitting Chief Minister can afford to (lease) a mine in Sindhudurg. His disproportionate assets should be checked,” Moitra said.
The Chief Minister’s Office, when asked to respond to the allegations, said that Sawant had already clarified the issue ‘two years ago’ and that no fresh statement would be issued.
In 2019, the Congress had accused Sawant of acquiring properties in neighbouring Dodamarg disproportionate to his known sources of income. Responding back then, Sawant said he had “nothing to hide”.
“There is nothing to hide. The money was paid from my bank account and the land is in my name. If I wanted to do something on the sly would I have registered the land in my own name?” Sawant had said in November 2019.
The Congress alleged that Sawant in his affidavit filed before the Goa Assembly elections had declared possession of 2966 acres of land in Dodamarg which he said was valued at ₹38 lakh. Sawant, however, responded saying that the Congress had missed to notice the decimal point in his affidavit and the actual size of the land was 2.966 acres of land.
However, subsequently two more sale deeds have come to light -- one land measuring 4.39 acres cost him ₹14 lakh and another measuring 0.79 acres cost him ₹36 lakh.
Back then it wasn’t clear what the land was purchased for, however, the recent revelations by the TMC suggest that the land was purchased for setting up a stone quarry.
