MISSING IN ACTION
With chief minister Manohar Parrikar away for treatment, key policy decisions are on hold
In the US for treatment of a pancreatic ailment since March 16, Manohar Parrikar’s prolonged absence seems to be causing a policy paralysis in Goa’s BJP-led coalition government. Critical decisions pertaining to development, upgrading the power supply infrastructure, tourism, and law and order have been interminably on hold, awaiting the chief minister’s return.
On June 3, the gram sabha of Velasco-Issorcim, outside Vasco-da-Gama city, resolved to revoke a licence issued to a builder to construct a 140-room hotel there. The villagers claimed the licence, issued by the gram panchayat, violated the state’s Regional Plan (RP), 2021.
In the chief minister’s absence, the state government and the highly influential Catholic Church are at logger-
heads over the RP, which earmarks development zones in rural areas. Town planning minister Vijai Sardesai, of the Goa Forward Party, alleges the church is backing an agitation to destabilise the government.
Meanwhile, outdated infrastructure and a lack of qualified manpower to carry out repairs are causing long power outages in Cuncolim, Dabolim in south Goa and capital Panaji. Besides replacing old transmission cables, the power department needs to recruit some 500 linesmen. But everything is on hold till Parrikar is back.
In the meantime, there has been a spate of crimes, including the gang rape of a 20-year-old girl at Colva beach by three youth from Indore. Although the state police were prompt in arresting the accused tourists, the rise in sexual offences is highlighting the failing efficiency of the state home department—one of the many portfolios under the CM.
The government is under pressure from all sections of society to amend Goa’s tourist-friendly laws. The deputy speaker of the state assembly, Michael Lobo, is calling for harsher penalties for minor violations like drinking in public. He says making Goa safe will bring in the high-end tourists. But, clearly, nothing is likely to be done while Parrikar is convalescing in the US.
The absence of clear directions to the state police authorities was also evident in its failure to initiate any action against the Ramnathi-based Sanatan Sanstha, after a Karnataka police team arrested four of its functionaries for their alleged role in journalist Gauri Lankesh’s killing.
Tourism has also suffered after yet another failed season. In fact, nearly 90 per cent of Goa’s hitherto popular beach shacks shut shop before May-end owing to slack business and the government’s failure to issue no-objection certificates. Despite marketing the state as a favoured tourism destination in several North American, European and Australasian countries, the season saw just some 12,000 tourists from the traditional UK and Russian markets, besides 2,398 visitors from Finland.
Tourist footfalls, including domestic holidaymakers, were possibly also impacted by the long delay in bringing relief to liquor vend operators in the state who have had to shut shop in the wake of Supreme Courtordered restrictions on the sale of alcohol along highways. A committee of three ministers had proposed a ‘cluster town’ concept as a means to beat the ban. But the state’s finance department, also among Parrikar’s charges, is yet to take a call.
Parrikar’s absence is also fuelling political uncertainty. On June 1, Ramakrishna a.k.a Sudin Dhavlikar, the Maharashtra Gomantak Party minister in charge of the public works department, caused a storm when he said he was willing to head the coalition as the CM. He later clarified that he did not mean to suggest replacing Parrikar.
The Congress, meanwhile, seems to be raising a new bogey. In a complaint to the state police crime branch on June 2, the party alleged that e-mails purported to have been sent by CM Parrikar from the US to clear urgent files, were possibly fake. “Someone else has been sending these e-mails,” Congress spokesperson Siddhant Buyao said in the complaint.
Before flying out, Parrikar had constituted a committee of three ministers—Sardesai, Dhavlikar and Francis D’Souza—to take day-to-day decisions. The committee is clearly finding it difficult to fill the chief minister’s shoes.
UPGRADE OF POWER INFRASTRUCTURE, LAW AND ORDER, AND TOURISM ARE BEING AFFECTED