Team Herald
PANJIM: The Congress on Thursday warned that it will launch a massive agitation across Goa if the state government did not order a judicial inquiry into the cash-for-jobs scam by Monday.
The arrests over the last few days have thrown up names with BJP links, apart from audio clips that have gone viral on social media that hint at tainted smaller fry within the party using influence to extend the scam and dupe job seekers.
Addressing a press conference at the party’s state headquarters in Panjim, Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) President Amit Patkar said that the BJP government had been playing with the lives of youths for the last 12 years by selling government jobs.
"If our demands are not met by Monday, the Congress will launch an agitation and knock on the doors of every household in Goa,” he said.
Patkar added that despite their demand for a Special Investigation Team (SIT) for the investigation, nothing had been done and Chief Minister Pramod Sawant hadn’t addressed their demand for a probe by a retired high court judge.
Leader of Opposition Yuri Alemao pointed at how the dropout percentage had been going up and linked it with unemployment. “Postgraduate students are applying for Lower Division Clerk (LDC) jobs. They now think that there is no point in getting educated, as they can get a job by paying money. This trend is very dangerous,” he said.
Alemaoa dded that there has to be a thorough inquiry into all the education certificates submitted by the candidates who have got jobs recently. “We believe there will be pressure from all departments during the inquiry and it’s important that the cases are investigated by a neutral probe agency,” he said.