by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
Panaji : Goa Revenue Minister Rohan Khaunte on Saturday joined the chorus of the Opposition and other cabinet colleagues, claiming that the state administration had come to a standstill in the absence of ailing Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar.
He also alleged that a lobby of bureaucrats and individuals were surreptitiously carving up government benefits in the absence of Parrikar.
Khaunte said that the biggest hurdle in administration was the finance ministry, which is headed by Parrikar, where he said no government file has been moving for several months.
“I am very concerned when it comes to IT (Information Technology ministry), Revenue (ministry). A lot of people in the bureaucracy or in the governance side, who are not seen by the people, are taking certain things for their own benefit, their own interest or for what interest I do not know, but (it is) not in the interest of Goans,” Khaunte told reporters on Saturday.
The independent legislator, who holds the Revenue and IT portfolios, is not the first ruling politician to claim that the administration under the BJP-led coalition government had been affected due to the prolonged absence of Parrikar, who is suffering from advanced pancreatic cancer and undergoing treatment for nearly nine months now.
Town and Country Planning Minister Vijai Sardesai, Public Works Department Minister Sudin Dhavalikar, BJP MLA Michael Lobo, Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party President Deepak Dhavalikar have in the recent past said that the administration had suffered from Parrikar’s absence.
The Congress has also repeatedly demanded Parrikar’s resignation in view of his prolonged illness.
The Congress too has in the past alleged that a cartel of bureaucrats and politically-appointed officers on special duty were calling the shots in the administration and were running the affairs of Goa.
Khaunte also said that the main obstacle for smooth governance was the finance ministry, which Parrikar holds.
“All files are rotating in different departments for the last four to five months, specially finance department, which is very frustrating for any minister to work with. As elected representatives, we become responsible for the people of Goa, as ministers to the people of Goa, as MLA to the people of my constituency,” Khaunte said.
“But, the bureaucracy is something which is not seen by the people. But I feel the administration has come to a standstill. I feel that there is nothing moving from the finance side of it,” he alleged.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
Manohar Parrikar
By Mayabhushan Nagvenkar,
Panaji : As colourful clay idols of Lord Ganesh are ushered into Hindu homes in Goa ahead of Ganesh Chaturthi, the symbolic significance of the deity, as a remover of obstacles and a god of new beginnings, may well dwell on the minds of state leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The party’s top-rung leaders are battling a crisis of loyalty between their party and the ailing high priest of the BJP in Goa, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, who in the past has cleared innumerable political obstacles and ushered new beginnings for the party and its cadre. The 62-year-old former Defence Minister’s persisting illness is now threatening to weigh heavy on the fortunes of his party as well as the BJP-led coalition government that he heads.
Parrikar returned from the US — for the third time in six months — after yet another round of treatment for advanced pancreatic cancer last week, but has failed to attend office.
The question of whether and who will replace Parrikar is still not a subject for on-record conversations for BJP leaders like state party General Secretary Sadanand Shet Tanavde and South Goa MP Narendra Savoikar, who insist that “there is no question of a change in leadership”. But in the sanctuary of an off-record conversation, there is anxiety, anguish and worry — both for Parrikar’s failing health as well as the gaining perception that the Goa BJP and the government are virtually leaderless entities.
There appears to be neither hope, nor a consensus, among the party’s senior leadership about who could potentially replace Parrikar for now, especially since his health is worsening, although the Chief Minister’s Office as well as BJP spokespersons insist that the ailing leader is recovering just fine.
Last month, perhaps Parrikar’s only peer in the Goa BJP in terms of longevity and acceptability among cadre, Union Minister of State for AYUSH Shripad Naik, made the first attempt to spark a conversation about “alternative leadership” in Goa, while conceding to a crisis. But within a matter of hours of his presser, a planned trip to Delhi to meet the party High Command by Naik himself and other top party functionaries was called off, after some leaders met Parrikar, who was admitted to a Mumbai hospital.
Since then, Naik too toes the line of “no question of leadership change”. Now that the cry for leadership change has been swiftly squelched, the question is now limited to sincere, but muffled murmurs among BJP leaders, who feel that political ground beneath them is slipping, in the face of a series of scandals — the inaction against those exposed for using carcinogenic agent formalin to preserve fish in a seafood-loving state and the never-ending mining ban and the seeming lack of effort by the state government to overcome it, being the two most significant.
It is not that there aren’t options.
One of the few propped up include Speaker Pramod Sawant, who Parrikar, ignoring protocol, had handpicked to lead the government during the state Independence Day parade.
Alliance partners Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party and the Goa Forward Party have also been sounded out or have pushed for merging their legislative units into the BJP as a pre-condition for the top chair, according to sources.
Last week, Goa’s political circles were in a tizzy about former Chief Minister and Congress MLA Digambar Kamat — a favourite of the influential mining lobby — along with other Congress MLAs joining the BJP with the Chief Ministerial berth as a prize for the coup. But Kamat, who on a clear winter day in February 2005 quit the BJP to join the Congress complaining of “suffocation” within the saffron party, has now formally said that no such move was on the cards.
Former Goa Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Subhash Velingkar, who has groomed the top rung of BJP leadership, including Parrikar, Naik and state BJP president Vinay Tendulkar, blames Parrikar for the lack of credible second-rung leaders.
“He (Parrikar) has ensured that there are no second-rung leaders. Laxmikant Parsenkar (former CM), Rajendr Arlekar (Speaker) and Naik have been systematically sidelined, which is the cause of this crisis. Leadership change right now is imperative,” Velingkar told IANS.
One would wonder if Ganesh Chaturthi, with all its inherent symbolism, would usher in a new beginning for the BJP in Goa or, at least for now, clear up the obstacles.
(Mayabhushan Nagvenkar can be contacted at mayabhushan.n@ians.in)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
Manohar Parrikar
Panaji : The Shiv Sena on Saturday threatened to start a statewide agitation within a month if Goa doesn’t get a full-fledged Chief Minister to replace the ailing Manohar Parrikar. The CM is currently under treatment for pancreatic cancer in a US hospital.
“How can a state continue to function like this in absence of a Chief Minister. There are so many urgent issues, including the resumption of the mining industry which need to be tackled,” party’s state President Jitesh Kamat said at a press conference in Panaji on Saturday.
“If the Bharatiya Janata Party does not appoint a full-fledged Chief Minister within a month from now, the Shiv Sena will launch a statewide agitation in protest,” added Kamat.
He also said that President’s Rule should be imposed in the state until a new Chief Minister is appointed.
The Congress in Goa has already resolved to meet President Ramnath Kovind to impress upon the Central government to appoint a Chief Minister at the earliest.
Parrikar was shifted to the US for treatment in March 2018, a month after he was first admitted to a Mumbai hospital for stomach pain, which was subsequently diagnosed as pancreatic cancer.
Before leaving for the US, Parrikar had appointed a cabinet advisory committee comprising of three Ministers, which the Congress as well as the Shiv Sena has claimed is unconstitutional.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
By Mayabhushan Nagvenkar,
Panaji : Less than a week after Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, suffering from pancreatic cancer, was rushed to the US for treatment, his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led coalition government already appears to be shaky and dissent-ridden.
Signs of a seeming implosion in the coalition, caused by the absence of the authoritarian Chief Minister, can be seen in recent statements by not just coalition partners but also by frustrated BJP MLAs, who are now questioning their own party and government’s resolve to find solutions to an impending ban on mining.
BJP MLA Nilesh Cabral is one of the faces of dissent.
Cabral, who has in the past found fault with the government’s will vis-a-vis tackling the mining ban, has now also questioned the protocol created by Parrikar to govern Goa in his absence, which involves a three-minister committee and a slew of powers to Chief Secretary Dharmendra Sharma and Parrikar’s Principal Secretary, P. Krishnamurthy.
“Today, we have practically no government. With due respect to the Chief Minister it is very clear there is no governance happening,” Cabral said. “The CM is not here to take cabinet (meetings) and he has given some powers to the three. Who will chair the meeting? This has become confusing. I do not find any solution in this,” Cabral added.
Cabral represents the Curchorem constituency in the state’s mining belt, which is expected to bear the brunt of the Supreme Court-imposed ban on mining in the coastal state from March 16, to facilitate fresh issue of 88 mining leases.
The BJP MLA also claimed that no visible effort was made by the Goa government to find ways and means to resolve the issue, despite the fact that the Supreme Court order was delivered last month.
Deputy Speaker Michael Lobo, a BJP member, is also openly critical of his government’s lack of decision-making and has subtly dared the party’s central leaders, including Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, to urgently visit Goa and assure the state that a solution would be found to work around the ban.
“The BJP leaders who came down to Goa after the elections like Mr. Gadkari, should come to Goa now and assure the people that there is a plan to solve this problem. Over 100,000 Goans will be affected by the mining ban,” Lobo told IANS.
He also wanted Parrikar, who has already been admitted to a hospital in the US, to urgently speak to the party’s central leadership over phone and implore them to find a solution to the mining imbroglio.
Parrikar, as Chief Minister, has always been known to run a tight ship, cracking down on even the slightest whimper of dissent from his flock. But his absence has now emboldened leaders of the party’s coalition partners.
Deepak Dhavalikar, president of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party, following a meeting of its central committee, has raised a question mark over the future of the alliance — especially due to the severe nature of Parrikar’s ailment.
“Till he is the Chief Minister, we are there with the government,” Dhavalikar has maintained.
The legacy of controversial, unpopular decisions of successive BJP-led coalition governments, like renewing mining leases in favour of tainted companies, U-turns on assurances to ban the casino industry, support to increased coal handling at Goa’s only major port, nationalisation of rivers and now the intra-government chaos, as well as the shroud of secrecy surrounding the Chief Minister’s illness, has triggered a rising trend of criticism against Parrikar, especially on social media, a fact that former Deputy Chief Minister and a member of the three-member ministerial committee Francis D’Souza concurs with.
“It is quite disturbing… Lot of things are happening which are not very palatable and are not right. I do not know whether it is political or not, but the fact is it is coming up on the social media,” D’Souza said.
And fatalistic apprehensions by BJP lawmakers like Cabral appears to be only adding to the chaos.
(Mayabhushan Nagvenkar can be contacted at mayabhushan.n@ians.in )
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Economy, News, Politics
Manohar Parrikar
Panaji : Even as Goa readies for closure of its iron ore mines next month, following a Supreme Court order, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Wednesday said it is not possible for governments to suddenly disrupt the economic trajectory of a state and all stakeholders, including the judiciary, will have to take that into consideration vis-a-vis decision-making.
“Without going into the merits of the judgement,… Goa is facing economic problems — is a fact,” the Chief Minister said.
“Now all stakeholders, including the judiciary will have to take into consideration economic trajectory. It is not possible for governments to suddenly disrupt the economic trajectory,” Parrikar told reporters.
His comment came as Goa readied for closure of its 88 iron ore mines in March following the cancellation of their leases by the Supreme Court on February 7.
Cancelling the leases of all existing iron ore mines in Goa the apex court ordered that the mining tracts should be leased afresh to new licencees after obtaining new environmental clearances.
Addressing a press conference after meeting with a cross-section of legislators, Parrikar also said that a final decision on the resumption of mining and mode of leasing of the mines will be taken in 15-20 days.
The Chief Minister, however, said that the economic impact of the closure would not be as much as it was in 2012, when iron ore export was at its peak.
“The revenue from last year (from mining sector) will not exceed Rs 300 crore (in direct revenue), indirect (revenue) maybe around Rs 50 to Rs 100 crore. So Rs 300 crore in a total net budgetary size of Rs 10,000 crore. Financially it is three to four per cent,” Parrikar said.
The country’s leading exporter of low-grade iron ore, Goa, exported nearly 50 million tonnes before the Shah Commission in 2012 exposed a Rs 35,000 crore scam, triggering a ban on mining in the state.
The top court in February cancelled all those leases that were again renewed for 20 years from 2007.
Observing that all these leases were renewed “hastily” and were “illegal”, the top court ordered that all ore extraction activity on the renewed leases should cease by March 15.
The Chief Minister also chided the media for indulging in speculations.
“Once we have a policy (on mining) we will tell you. Until then you keep speculating. It is a good business for you to go on speculating. We have not taken any decision… It will be finalised after discussion. I will take 15-20 days…” Parrikar said.
—IANS
