The serious differences have emerged within the Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP) on the proposal to request Imagine Panaji Smart City Development Limited (IPSCDL) to design and implement its e-governance project. According to TOI, the CCP ran into stiff opposition at the last ordinary council meeting with the ruling panel refusing to grant permission to Smart City to take up the project.
The report said that some councillors have proposed that CCP should try to implement the e-governance module by floating a request for proposal on its own. Similar attempts were made in the past without much success. In fact, the last project was shelved when irregularities were found by the accountant general in the 2014-15 report.
Former mayor Surendra Furtado told the daily that CCP got Rs 19.8 crore under JNNURM for implementation of an e-governance project and but when the project was tendered, irregularities were found irregularities in the request for proposal (RFP).
CCP took up the e-governance project in January 2014 and awarded the contract to Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). However, while the Union ministry of urban development had stipulated that 50 computers and 50 printers were to be procured, the tender was floated with a requirement of just 25 computers and 25 printers. The project was eventually shelved due to mismanagement and blatant discrepancies in the tender process, alleged Furtado.
“CCP does not have any knowledge to do an e-governance project and if Smart City is ready to do it, then they should give it to them,” said councillor Pundalik Raut Dessai reported TOI.
