Rupesh Samant

Panaji, Oct 25: The opposition parties in Goa have objected to the appointment of a tainted company as a consultant for coal block allotted by the Centre for Goa at Madhya Pradesh.

Goa Forward Party President Vijai Sardesai and independent MLA Rohan Khaunte, in different statements issued here, pointed out that M/s aXYKno, a consultant appointed by the state government for the coal block at Dongri Taal II in Madhya Pradesh was under the scanner of Central Bureau of Investigation for a similar project.

Vijai Sardesai

A Steering committee of the PPP Cell on Friday had appointed the company as a consultant to decide RFP for the coal block allotted to Goa Industrial Development Corporation.

“The chief minister who seems to be on a highway to sell Goa to the highest bidder has added yet another feather to his cap by appointing M/s aXYKno Capital Services as the consultant to exploit the Dongri Taal II coal block allotted to the GIDC,” Sardesai said.

"This company was notorious in the infamous Coalgate scam for having forged PPP deals with more than 20 private players. These deals were under the scanner of the CBI too for which M/s aXYKno Capital Services are being probed,” he added.

“Surprisingly this company has not been decided by the open tender but has been appointed by the PPP Steering committee,” he added.

Independent MLA Rohan Khaunte took to Twitter to object the decision, “#Goa is heading for Coal Scam. PPP Cell chaired by @goacm appoints M/s aXYKno Capital Services as a consultant for state. Company was under CBI scanner," he tweeted.

“The coal block allocation during Congress govt is already under CBI scanner; we are heading for another scam? Why cabinet approval was not taken?.” “@goacm is in a hurry to give the RFP for MDO of the coal block; we smell corruption of #DrCorruption,” he added.

While the chief minister was not available for comments, a senior official from PPP Cell said that the decision was taken after taking into consideration the proposals by three firms.

Sawant on Friday had announced the appointment of a consultant to finalise the Request For Proposal (RFP) to appoint Mine Developer and Operator (MDO) for the Dongri Tal Coal Block in Madhya Pradesh allocated for state-run Goa Industries Development Corporation (GIDC).

“The Steering committee of the PPP cell met to review the progress on RFP for the coal block at Madhya Pradesh. Three companies had shown interest to be the finalisation of RFP,” Sawant had told reporters after the meeting.

He said that one of the companies with previous experience in the field has been selected as a consultant to prepare the RFP to appoint MDO for the project. Sawant said that the RFP would be issued by November 10, 2020.

The Dongri Tal Coal block at Singrauli in Madhya Pradesh was allocated to Goa as a part of the fifth tranche of allotment by the Union Coal Ministry.