PANAJI: Stating that the Bharatiya Janata Party has prevented an amount of approximately Rs 36 crore from going out of the pocket of common man, including Rs 18 crore from the owners of two-wheelers and equal amount from the owners of four and six wheelers, as linked to the high security registration plates, the opposition party on Saturday

demanded a thorough investigation into the HSRP scam, and booking of the culprit responsible for the same. The party also offered to supply all the related documents to the government for the purpose.

It may be recalled that the state cabinet on June 25 accepted the report of the committee headed by the Chief Secretary, Mr Sanjay Kumar Srivastava on the HSRP tender presented to M/s Shimnit Utsch India Pvt Ltd, and directed the Chief Secretary to take further action in accordance with the law in terminating the agreement. The government reached the decision as a number of deficiencies/ shortcomings were found in the agreement.

Addressing a press conference at the city BJP headquarters, the state party president, Mr Laxmikant Parsekar observed that M/s Shimnit Utsch India Pvt Ltd was charging Rs 600 per high security registration plate for the two-wheelers, when its actual cost was between Rs 250 and Rs 300, while an amount between Rs 1,400 and 1,450 was being charged for fitting each plate to the four and six-wheelers, when it was valued at Rs 500. "The BJP had launched an agitation against this scam and spread public awareness about the same through various forums like agitations, public meetings, media and so on," he reminded.

Replying to a question as regards who is responsible for the HSRP scam, Mr Parsekar said that the bureaucrats are agents through whom the rulers get their things done. Furthermore, observing that the Congress party, by going for a massive hike in the petroleum products has forced the common man to travel on a bicycle, the state BJP president said that the Goa unit of the BJP, as part of the nationwide agitation would hold demonstrations against the particular decision of the central government, at the Captain of Ports jetty, on June 28 between 3 p.m and 5.30 p.m.

Recalling that the last hike for the petroleum prices was during the announcement of the national budget, Mr Parsekar said that the present increase has come within three months since the previous hike. "The decision of the central government to decontrol the petrol prices is an indication that decontrolling of prices of other petroleum products would soon follow," he noted, pointing out that this decision is in favour of the petroleum companies and not common man.

The state BJP chief finally said that the government appeal to the public to bear the hike is nothing but adding insult to the injury. "How can people who work on daily wages and with minimum salary bear the financial pressure caused by the hike," he questioned, stating that the prices of transport, essential commodities and all other products would now automatically skyrocket.