PARRIKAR USED CONTINGENCY FUNDS FOR IFFI

AND A FEW MORE stray thoughts and a few more observations for yet another Sunday. For a Sunday following the week when we discovered the price that the tax-payer has paid for IFFI in a jiffy. For a Sunday following the week when the IFFI contractors seem to have packed up and vanished because they realise that the government is no position to settle their dues. For a Sunday following the week when the war between the Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar and Governor Jamir escalated. For a Sunday following the week when the mascara and rouge of IFFI-related works got smudged.

And a few stray thoughts on the financial crisis which IFFI in a jiffy has plunged the state into. It has now become abundantly clear that a bankrupt government has been dipping heavily into the contingency funds for financing IFFI in a jiffy. This is clear from the explanatory memorandum to the various demands for grants moved in the just-concluded session of the Assembly. The justification cited for supplementary grants amounting to Rs.97 Crores exposes the gross financial mismanagement.  The Parrikar government has been reduced to a state of bankruptcy because of the huge amounts of money spent on IFFI in a jiffy. The supplementary demands under various heads including general administration admit that the government has no money to pay the salaries of government employees for the months of November, December, January and February. The government is so broke it does not have money to pay the professional fees of the advocate general and the travel allowances of the public prosecutor and his assistants. The telecom department is apparently threatening to disconnect the phones of several police stations for non-payment of bills. The supplementary demands also reveal that the government has been drawing on the contingency funds for IFFI infrastructural demands. The demands include grants for civil works for the Kala Academy and a grant in aid to the Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG) of Rs.9.50 Crores. It will be recalled that the ESG was the joint organizer with the Directorate of Festivals of IFFI in a jiffy.

Replies to assembly questions also reveal that the Chief Minister has been diverting funds from much more vital infrastructural development projects to fund IFFI. Amongst the projects which have been put on hold is the improvement and widening of the road from the O’Coqueiro junction to Calangute. Ironically, the government spent more on the development of the footpath between the Mandovi Hotel and the Miramar and its illumination than the total budget allotted for improving and widening the arterial congested road from O’Coqueiro in Porvorim to Calangute. Apparently, the health of the citizens is  much less important than putting up a show for the stars of tinsel town. Among the projects that were put on the back burner for lack of funds was the new 450 bed ward block which was to be added to the GMC Bambolim complex. Of the total sanctioned amount of Rs.14.73 Crores for upgrading medical facilities at the GMC, the government has released only Rs.73 lakhs. The rest of the money was presumably diverted to IFFI in a jiffy. All of which dramatises and exposes the misguidance priorities of the Chief Minister.

ABANDONED INFRASTRUCTURE

AND A FEW stray observations on why work on IFFI-related infrastructural works remains incomplete and appears to have been abandoned. While the pavement between the Mandove Hotel and the Miramar Circle on the river side is sporting a new cosmetic look the pavement on the landwards side is still in shambles. The dividers which were removed from the Dona Paula by-pass road have yet to be replaced over long stretches. The street lamps on the side of the roads fail to shed any light. The broken railings at the Dona Paula jetty which are a major hazard are yet to be repaired. I understand that the drainage ducts have been covered up leaving no outlet for drain water to pass all along the spanking new pavement on the river side. The four-laning of the Dayanand Bandodkar Road beyond Magsons seems to have been abandoned. Along the Dona Paula by-pass road there are several trenches which are death traps both for motorists and the hundreds who go for their evening walk.

The most notorious example of IFFI vandalism is the Panjim Municipal Garden which now resembles a tsunami hit area. While the old garden had been comprehensively destroyed apparently neither the civic body nor the GIDC which was supposed to restore it have either the money or the inclination to finish the job. It is clear that the high profile contractors and consultants appointed for IFFI related infrastructural works including beautification of the garden and other structures have abandoned the work and vanished. In the run-up to IFFI,  work on various projects proceeded at frenetic pace and the streets and by-lanes of Panjim were full of heavy machinery and zillions of labour. All the concrete mixers and cranes and the tar laying machines seem to have disappeared overnight. Apparently the reason why all the high flying contractors and the thousands of labour have vanished is because the government has run out of money. They have not been paid their dues and apparently have decided that it is better to cut their losses and clear out.

And talking of pending IFFI bills apparently the government owes newspapers in Goa and outside Rs.67.20 lakhs for advertisements released during IFFI. The break-up of advertising reveals that the biggest beneficiaries were all the goody goody newspapers in the state like the “Never Mind Times” and the Chief Minister’s personal “Herald” and of course “Tarun Bharat” which shares the Chief Minister’s ideology. The Navhind Times, The Herald and Tarun Bharat were given over Rs.Six lakhs worth of IFFI advertising. In sharp contrast Gomantak Times did not receive any advertising. Presumably as punishment for raising too many embarrassing questions and giving excessive publicity to IFFI detractors. The only newspaper in the official language of the State, Sunaprant, got only Rs.Two lakhs worth of advertising. Amongst the national papers the Loksatta, the Marathi paper of the Indian Express group got Rs 9.1 lakhs and the Maharashtra Times Rs.5.8 lakhs.The Sakal group owned by Sharad Pawar’s nephew got Rs.8.54 lakhs. For some strange reason no ads were released in any of the national English dailies. The local television channels which are forever singing the praises of Manohar Parrikar got Rs.3.2 lakhs. When we say “got” it is a presumption because apparently the government has no money to pay the advertising bills of the aforementioned media.

CHIEF MINISTER V/S GOVERNOR

AND A FEW stray observations on the escalation of the war between governor S.C. Jamir and Manohar Parrikar. Right from the time the governor came there has been a lot of friction between the CM and him. The governor’s alleged criticism has been deeply resented by both the Chief Minister and the Sangh Parivar. Manohar Parrikar was very upset when the governor summoned Isidore Fernandes amidst reports that he was being induced to quit the Congress and re-contest on the BJP ticket.

This was seen as unwarranted interference in the BJP’s personal affairs by the Chief Minister. When there were allegations of large-scale distribution of money in Poinguinim, the governor is reported to have summoned the Chief Elections Commissioner and asked him to keep a sharp vigil. The governor is reported to have warned Manohar Parrikar that he would dismiss his government if there were any more attempts to induce Congress legislators to quit. The governor even when on record that the inducement of Isidore Fernandes had reduced the democratic process in Goa to a mockery. More recently, the governor is reported to have taken strong objections to the directive to schools to screen the diabolical CD on the liberation struggle. Apparently it was under pressure from the governor that the Manohar Parrikar was forced to withhold the order and set up a committee to review the BJP’s insidious and inflammatory CD.

The fact that the governor granted an appointment to the interns from the Goa Dental College who complained bitterly about shoddy infrastructure seems to have further angered Manohar Parrikar. The simmering bitterness got reflected in the Legislative Assembly. The Chief Minister moreover is reportedly furious over the governor trekking all over the hinterland in the backward districts of Quepem and Sanguem and declaring that Goa cannot claim to be a developed state when large sections of its population have no access even to the bare necessities like potable drinking water, power supply and minimal medicare. Participating in the debate on the governor’s address the Chief Minister lashed out at the governor without naming him. The CM boasted that the National Productivity Council had listed Goa as at the top of the 14 smaller states. He also revealed that Nagaland, the governor’s home state was at the bottom. Incidentally, Jamir was amongst the longest serving chief ministers of Nagaland. Throwing down the gauntlet the CM insisted that those who were at the bottom had no right to preach to states at the top on development.  He also made a crack about how the Goa Dental College interns had infiltrated the Raj Bhavan which was guarded by 220 armed policemen.

The Chief Minister has also been instigating his party colleagues to pose questions which would have the effect of embarrassing the governor and showing him in bad light. In a reply to a question by the BJP loyalist Seth Tanavade it has been revealed that the government has been compelled to purchase a new Mercedes for the Goa Sadan in Delhi at the instance of the governor. Of course in Parrikar’s cowardly fashion he vehemently denied that his references to the findings of the Productivity Council were aimed at the governor. But then Parrikar is the quintessential flip flop man. Who inevitably backtracks on his impulsive and indiscrete statements. In the normal case he would have accused the media of misreporting him. Unfortunately in this case he made the unfavourable and indecorous references on the floor of the Assembly and his comments are part of the official records of the proceedings in the house.

POST-IFFI

AND A FEW stray thoughts on the pimples and warts on the face of the brand new IFFI infrastructure. On Sunday night the Panjim police discovered that the approach road to the new Patto bridge had started sinking. This is after a speeding car almost tumbled into a river. The traffic police were alerted and an examination was carried out.  It was confirmed that the hastily compacted mud on the approach road to the new Patto bridge had sunk by three inches. Cracks had also surfaced on the adjoining pavement. The bridge was shut down and remains closed at the time of writing. Concerned citizens like Annand Madganvkar have been warning of just such a calamity for weeks now. Soon after the bridge was commissioned Annand Madganvkar had pointed out that no load bearing stress had been conducted before throwing open the bridge to traffic. Annand had expressed the apprehension that the bridge might collapse as it had been shoddily constructed.

A senior consultant to the GSIDC which had commissioned the project and was supposed to monitor it admitted that the compacting had been done in a hurry. That the joints had not been properly cemented because absurdly enough the material did not reach on time. It is clear in retrospect that knowing that the approach road and the bridge had been badly constructed and would not be able to bear the traffic load the IFFI obsessed CM insisted on throwing it open to traffic. But Parrikar of course will never acknowledge that he is fallible. He was even brazen enough to claim in the assembly that he had expected it to happen. That all new bridges and roads tend to sink a bit when thrown open to traffic. Which may well be the case but surely the approach road and the bridge should have withstood the traffic load and should not have packed up and sunk within a month of its commissioning. This is not the first instance of shoddy work. It will be recalled that the tiled carpet at the Kala Academy and opposite the Dempo House had started coming apart leading to the tragic death of two young men recently.  In the context of the sinking approach road maybe a safety order should be conducted of all IFFI infrastructural works including the Multiplex and the renovated Kala Academy. And while they’re about it hopefully they’ll do something about the mosquitoes which bombard visitors and scared the living daylights of NRI Goans at the recent Gomantak Vishwa Sammelan.

AND A LAST stray thought for yet another Sunday. Obviously members of the Opposition including the President of the Goa Pradesh Congress Committee do not know how to ask questions or deliberately frame questions to help the Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar. Knowing fully well that the government claim is that the Kala Academy was renovated and not reconstructed, Luizinho Faleiro posed the question to the Chief Minister during the just concluded Assembly session on the cost of reconstruction of the Kala Academy. This gave the CM the ideal excuse to not provide the details of the renovation of the Kala Academy. The Chief Minister’s answer was that since the Kala Academy was not reconstructed there was no question of any cost incurred in the reconstruction of the Kala Academy. The reply incidentally revealed that the Kala Academy had got a lot of very expensive plasma television sets. One does not know what plasma television has to do with film festivals or with any cultural event for that matter. It would be useful to check if the plasma television sets are still in the Kala Academy or has been quietly shifted to the residences of ministers and officials.

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