Panaji, The Goa Congress on Thursday expressed fear about the data collected from lakhs of state residents as part of an ongoing community survey related to Covid-19, alleging that the data being collected via an app devised by a private agency, poses a risk of being leaked and commercially tapped.

"This entire exercise was conducted by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on the advice of the BJP, with the intention of collecting voter data for the 2022 Assembly elections. The government engaged the services of a private agency to provide services through a mobile app. It is now to be seen how much expenditure the government has incurred on this unfruitful exercise," Goa Pradesh Congress Committee president Girish Chodankar said in a statement.

"The collected data of around 4,39,666 persons is now available with private agency compromising privacy of citizens. There is a scope for misuse of data for commercial purpose as the data can be sold to marketing companies or transferred to BJP headquarters at Panaji for electoral benefits of the party," Chodankar alleged.

The statewide survey announced by Sawant is aimed at collecting data on persons suffering from flu-like symptoms and checking on how many persons from outside the state entered Goa after the pandemic. The data, Sawant had said, would help his government as well as the health authorities to create effective future strategies for Covid-19 management.