Portion of Goa’s iconic Kala Academy collapses, Opposition alleges corruption

For more than two years, the premises have been shut on account of renovation work being carried out by the government. However, Minister for Arts and Culture Govind Gaude said that the collapsed portion was declared stable by two agencies, and hence, was not undergoing repairs or renovation.

Chief Minister Pramod Sawant directed the principal chief engineer of the Public Works Department (PWD) to conduct an inspection and said that details about the structure’s collapse would be shared after the inspection is complete.

The renovation work, estimated to cost more than Rs 55 crore, has been marred by allegations of corruption, with Opposition parties alleging irregularities in allocating work without a tendering process.

Opposition parties targeted the government over the collapse, demanding a thorough investigation into the incident and calling for the sacking of the minister overseeing the project. (Special Arrangement)

When the matter was raised during the monsoon session of the state Assembly last year, Gaude had defended the government’s decision, quipping that even Mughal emperor Shah Jahan had not “invited quotations when building the Taj Mahal, and for 390 years it remains as it was”.

In 2022, the Charles Correa Foundation, set up by the family of the late architect, had raised concerns over lack of transparency in the renovation work, saying that the government was changing core design elements of the heritage structure that could threaten its character. At the time, Gaude had dismissed the concerns, saying that the building had a faulty design and that the foundation was not a stakeholder that needed to be consulted.

On Monday, after inspecting the site of the collapse, PWD Minister Nilesh Cabral told the media that a detailed inquiry would be conducted to probe the reasons for the collapse, and that a white paper would be subsequently released.

The PWD has written to IIT Roorkee to carry out a detailed investigation of the incident. The office of the principal chief engineer of PWD has also written to the contractor undertaking the renovation work, directing the firm to submit a detailed explanation of the incident by Tuesday and to obtain the independent report from IIT Mumbai, which carried out the structural stability assessment of the Kala Academy.

Opposition parties targeted the government over the collapse, demanding a thorough investigation into the incident and calling for the sacking of the minister overseeing the project.

Terming it a serious lapse due to “sub-standard work”, Congress’s Yuri Alemao, the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, demanded a judicial inquiry into what he alleged was “massive corruption” in the renovation work.

Recalling minister Gaude’s reference to the Taj Mahal, Goa Forward Party president Vijai Sardesai said, “The real Taj Mahal still stands because the real Shah Jahan was not on 40 per cent commission. The grand corruption [that] Goa’s Shah Jahans are perpetrating will eventually lead to the destruction of Goa. What excuse does the Goa government have now? Will the minister who was defending this disaster quit and hand over charge to someone clean and competent before the whole building collapses?”

“What will the minister have to say if this happened during a performance?” he asked.

Clyde Crasto, national spokesperson of the NCP, demanded that an SIT should be formed to probe the “scam”, saying that the collapse “proves that the (renovation) work was not carried out by professional contractors and all the money sanctioned was not used for the work”.