AERIAL VIEW
Soon after the order of allotment of portfolios, Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant said he would give Zero corruption government in his tenure.
Well, Mr Sawant, if corruption was to end, three of your ministers – facing grave corruption charges should not have been in the Cabinet.
Trere is a famous Hindi idiom, “‘Sau Chuhe Khaake Billi Haaj Ko Chali’ (After killing/eating 100 mice, the cat goes on a pilgrimage).
Well, if the CM has forgotten, we must remind him that the Ventilator scam, COVID19 purchase scam, recruitment scam and Oxygen scam – all by his colleague Vishwajit Rane, are still fresh in the minds of the people. But despite that, he has been awarded Health again and so also Urban Development and TCP.
SURAJ NANDREKAR
Editor, Goemkarponn
After a long delay, Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant finally distributed the portfolios to eight of his cabinet colleagues on Sunday.
As per the order issued, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has retained Home and Finance Personnel, Vigilance and Official Languages.
Vishwajit Rane, has been allotted the Town and Country Planning, Health, Urban Development, Women & Child and Forest. Mauvin Godinho has been alloted Transport, Industries, Panchayat and Protocol. Ravi Naik has been given Agriculture, Handicrafts and Civil Supplies. Nilesh Cabral has been allotted Law and Judiciary Ministry and Environment, Public Works Department, and Legislative Affairs.
Subhash Shirodkar has been allotted the Water Resources Department Ministry with Co-operation and Provedoria portfolios, while former Art and Culture Minister Govind Gaude has been allotted the same portfolio in addition to the Sports and Rural Development Agency.
Rohan Khaunte has been allotted the Tourism Ministry and the Information Technology portfolio, while Atanasio Monserrate has been assigned the Revenue, Labour and Waste Management portfolios.
The BJP has emerged as the single largest party with 20 assembly seats and is set to form the government. Goa has a total of 40 assembly seats, and a party needs 21 seats to form a government in the State.
Soon after the order of allotment of portfolios, Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant said he would give Zero corruption government in his tenure.
Well, Mr Sawant, if corruption was to end, four of your ministers – facing grave corruption charges should not have been in the Cabinet.
Trere is a famous Hindi idiom, “‘Sau Chuhe Khaake Billi Haaj Ko Chali’ (After killing/eating 100 mice, the cat goes on a pilgrimage).
Well, if the CM has forgotten, we must remind him that the Ventilator scam, COVID19 purchase scam, recruitment scam and Oxygen scam – all by his colleague Vishwajit Rane, are still fresh in the minds of the people. But despite that, he has been awarded Health again and so also Urban Development and TCP.
Secondly, Babush Monseratte – one of the most controversial ministers in the Sawant Cabinet, was also embroiled in the RP2011 controversy and was sacked by the late Manohar Parrikar then. Besides, Babush has also been involved in the criminal cases of rape and stoning at Panaji police station.
Third, comes Mauvin Godinho, who is still facing a court case in the infamous power scam. More importantly, the case was filed by the late Manohar Parrikar himself.
Fourth is Mr Ravi Naik. From 2008 to 2011, Ravi Naik was on the radar of late Manohar Parrikar for his alleged involvement in the drug-mafia-police-politicians nexus.
Parrikar had strongly charged Ravi Naik with being involved in corruption as a home minister.
However, Sawant seems to be oblivious to all these charges and allegations against his Cabinet Colleagues and now promises a clean and corruption-free government in the State.
Our only question is, can people with criminal backgrounds give a clean and corruption-free government?
While Nilesh Cabral, whatever was said and done, has worked in the Power department and deserved to get the portfolio. Nonetheless, he has been given the PWD. Another pick, Rohan Khaunte, a hotelier himself, has been entrusted with a Tourism portfolio.
While the other makes merry, hopefully, the two will work for the people and their issues.
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