PANAJI

The opposition MLAs today questioned Tourism Minister Manohar Ajgaonkar in the Assembly over beach cleaning contract which was allowed to Drishti Lifesaving Services Private Limited.

Congress MLAs Philip Neri Rodrigues, Digambar Kamat and Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco, said that Ajgaonkar allowed the private firm to continue the beach cleaning task for two years without issuing a tender for the work.

Ajgaonkar replied that his department had started the formalities to appoint a new agency to clean the beaches.

He said that Drishti firm, which was assigned the beach cleaning task on December 17, 2016 as a “stop-gap arrangement”, continued the work till last year and then it decided to discontinue, seeking fees hike.

“The tourism department took the task in its own hands but since it could not cope up with it, the private company was re-assigned the work again,” Ajgaonkar said.