To undertake Government related civil works
registration with the Government authorities is a
pre-requisite.
However it is now clear that the Government of Goa
seldom verifies the credentials of the applicants and
genuineness of the testimonials before according such
registration. Even at the time of annual renewal this
cross check by way of abundant caution is not resorted
too.
Little wonder then one realises how the post
Liberation Goa is rid with such badly engineered civil
works that would make a genuine professional hang
his/her head in shame.
This writer had almost a decade ago conclusively
ascertained that a prominent (read upper
caste)citizen from South Goa was indeed practicing as
an "Advocate " without having secured the relevant
degree from the Bombay University. Before the
investigations could be pursued to its logical
conclusion the unfortunate happened the "Advocate" in
question expired.
While the legal fraternity whispered under their
breath at the time of last rites none had the courage
of conviction to assit the writer to frame the
"Advocate" for his misdemeanour, for fear of being
pulled up for defamation even though solid evidence
was available.
Now comes yet another discovery this time of another
prominent citizen from South Goa who has been
masquerading as a "Civl Engineer" and sometimes
"Architect"?.
It has now been brought to the notice of this writer
that the individual concerned has been registered as
such with a Planning Development Authority, and a
Municipality in South Goa District and also with the
Public Works Department of the Government of Goa.
However upon discreet verification of the testimonials
with the Government of Kerala they have now
ascertained that niether such individual bearing such
testimonials has been registered with them nor is said
to have successfully completed and passed the course
of Diploma in Engineering (Civil) in any of their
institutions in Kerala just over two decades ago.
Ironically the concerned citizen is also believed to
have undertaken major civil engineering works for a
religious institution which was riddled in some
controversy in South Goa with some questioning his
credentials to undertake such sophisticated works on
basis of doubtful credentials.
It is now left to be seen how the Central Bureau of
Investigations Altinho Panaji if directed by the
Government of Goa or the Department of Vigilance
Government of Goa acts on the matter. Meanwhile it is
now learnt that the registration officials namely the
Chief Officer the Municipal Engineer the PDA and the
Registration Department of the PWD are likely cast the
net to nab the culprit.
It may also interest readers to note that in the early
seventies (in 1974 ?) the Government of Goa had
detected that a large number of graduate degrees which
were in circulation and several government employees
had allegedly utilised the same to advance their
career prospects while in Government service or
otherwise and thereby their emoluments.
It is not clear whether any amnesty was granted to
such employees to come off clean or were granted
reversion to lower grades besides penal action of loss
of increments.
It is time the Government of Goa conducts a full
investigation of the staff records and where there
exists questionable discrepancies the employees should
be asked to either produce the original documents OR
instead provide the name / address of the
University/Institution and the grade/month /year of
passing such examinations.
The Government could then verify the same with such
institutions within the State or with their counter
parts in other states.
The same practice should also be followed at the time
of renewal of such registrations beginning 2006-07 and
as a matter of routine the Government of Goa should
also make it mandatory to any individual in its
employment or undertaking Government works to produce
testimonials as and when called upon to do so or are
being awarded work orders.
It may also be noted that several cases of such of
fraudulent testimonials to seek gainful employment
have been detected by UAE countries and now the latest
country to follow suite in investigating similar cases
is the continent of Australia.
There is already a record number of cases where
persons mainly from the majority community have fudged
their date of births by two years so that they
superannuate on par with teachers at the age of 60
years. Atleast in one case the employee concerned is
believed to have committed suicide. The modus
operandi in fudging proof of age documents is to claim
that their parents were unable to register the births
of their wards owing to the harrassment of this
community by the erstwhile Portuguese regime. On this
pretext they then swear an affidavit especially at
the time of marriage and produce a fresh registration,
advancing their age almost as a rule by two years and
otherwise by more years depending upon how the "palms
are greased"
It is also believed that several of the minority
community members viz some sea farers and those
persuing employment propects abroad used to make use
of blank Baptismal certificates which were used for
the purpose of re-registration of births with the
Civil Registrar of Births, "stating that the records
at the office of Civil registrar were stated to be
destroyed or untraceable or illegible"
Though no such evidence has thus far come before this
writer as of now, there are strong indications to
believe that indeed this racket was prevalent in South
Goa sometime ago in the late eighties and nineties
"recommended by a South Goa MLA" only for those
venturing for employment out of India.
GODFREY J I GONSALVES
BORDA MARGAO GOA
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
9822158584
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