It is no secret that despite it being an election time, many ministers in the Sawant Cabinet do not want goodwill from the public as they know very well people will send them home this election and hence are making merry when the sun shines.
The Chief Minister announced that a three-member committee – Principal Secretary Punit Kumar, Special Secretary Vigilance Ankita Anand and Director of Vigilance have been appointed to probe the serious allegations of job sales by PWD Minister Deepak Pauskar.
While the CM’s prompt action is appreciated, the silence over a similar scam in the Health department and the Goa Medical College is deafening.
Health Minister Vishwajit Rane has literally made Goa Medical College the Sattari Medical College of Goa with almost 80 p.c of employees from the one taluka.
SURAJ NANDREKAR
Editor, Goemkarponn
After immense pressure being exerted on the PWD job recruitment by ruling MLA Babush Monseratte, the Opposition Congress, the Aam Aadmi Party, and the Goa Forward party – which even knocked the doors of the High Court, the Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant finally called for a Vigilance probe in the Cash for Jobs scam.
It is no secret that despite it being an election time, many ministers in the Sawant Cabinet do not want goodwill from the public as they know very well people will send them home this election and hence are making merry when the sun shines.
The Chief Minister announced that a three-member committee – Principal Secretary Punit Kumar, Special Secretary Vigilance Ankita Anand and Director of Vigilance have been appointed to probe the serious allegations of job sales by PWD Minister Deepak Pauskar.
While the CM’s prompt action is appreciated, the silence over a similar scam in the Health department and the Goa Medical College is deafening.
Health Minister Vishwajit Rane has literally made Goa Medical College the Sattari Medical College of Goa with almost 80 p.c of employees from the one taluka.
The urgency with which the Chief Minister has shown in action against Milind Naik in Sex Scandal, Prompt action against Alina Saldanha for anti-party activities and PWD recruitment scam, is missing in the case of Vishwajit Rane.
It is no secret that even though both have been denied, there is no love lost between the two top ministers in the government, and that was glaring during the times of the second wave of COVID19 when Rane went to even international media to defame the State government handling of the pandemic situation.
This was after the CM took over Oxygen management in government-run hospitals following dark-hour deaths.
Not only the recruitments, but the CM has also systematically ignored several scams in the GMC, and the health department, be it the ventilator and other COVID19 purchase scams, which runs into hundreds of crores.
Not just that, CM very well knows the scams in the GMC of Wellness Forever Medical store, the Sodexo catering, the Oxygen Scoop scam.
However, the CM does not dare to take any action simply because Vishwajit Rane is beyond his reach and enjoys better camaraderie with the BJP Central leaders than him. Moreover, Rane is closely related to BJP top leader Vasundhara Raje. Another issue, being the neighbouring constituency, Rane has a good influence in Sanquelim, and CM fears maybe if he acts against Rane, things would be difficult for him in 2022 Assembly polls.
This is why Rane has got away with his outbursts against the CM.
Coming back to the recruitment scam, it is no secret that since 2007 when Rane first became the Health Minister, he has been on a recruitment spree of Sattari locals in the health department and more so the GMC.
Any government-run hospitals, health centres, Women and Child Department, Food & Drugs Administration, there is the total monopoly of Vishwajit Rane.
The written exams are just for namesake, as it is in other departments. But in his departments, Rane literally dictates the names to the directors.
The worst is the Opposition is hand in glove with Rane, and the enthusiasm they showed in the PWD recruitment scam seems to be missing in the case of the GMC recruitment scam. Why these double standards Mr Digambar Kamat, Mr Vijai Sardesai? Why not move High Court on GMC recruitment scam. It is only because Rane keeps them happy with a few posts here and there.
While the Opposition’s silence is understandable, what stops the CM from acting against Rane’s recruitment scam? One wonders whether the CM too is part of the cartel as he is also from Sattari taluka.