The Public Works Department has given a prima facie clean chit to its officials on the Goa-Maharashtra border who were allegedly caught siphoning off money collected as entry toll fee during a media sting operation.
"An inspection was conducted after TV news channels aired the sting operation, but we have found that entry toll records have tallied and prima facie, there is no evidence that money was siphoned off," PWD Principal Chief Engineer J S Rego told PTI today.
TV news channels had aired the footage of some truck drivers on July 23, claiming that they were crossing borders by bribing PWD officials to evade toll.
Rego said that a team of PWD officials had inspected the border check post where the toll is collected and found that the records tally.
"Each truck passing through the border is caught on CCTV camera and a record is maintained on the system," he said.
Rego is yet to get a final report on the inspection conducted by PWD officials. However, from the primary observations, it can be concluded that there is no scam, he added.
Goa PWD Minister Ramakrishna Dhavalikar had ordered an immediate inquiry and warned of stringent action against officials, if they were found to be involved.
