The first day of the Budget session of the Legislative Assembly was a mixed bag, with, on the one hand, the ruling benches coming under direct attack over a host of issues while ministers threw the odd punch back.
The session opened with Goa Forward MLA Vijai Sardesai launching a scathing attack on the Power Minister Sudin Dhavalikar over the issue of EV subsidy. Sardesai made a direct charge that a middleman demands a certain amount to clear subsidies while going to the extent of naming the official.
While Dhavalikar brushed aside the corruption charge on the official by saying that he would investigate, he explained how Goa is heading towards shifting to renewable energy while assuring that all government buildings will be solar-powered by the current financial year.
It has been a trend that ministers spell out ambitious timelines for projects in a mere headline-grabbing move, with the reality remaining far from what is being announced. Lest we forget, Dhavalikar, during his tenure as the PWD minister during the erstwhile Manohar Parrikar regime, had made multiple announcements of Goa getting a 24x4 water supply. However, the current PWD minister Nilesh Cabral is assuring only four hours of water, and that is made out to be a luxury of day-to-day living for ordinary citizens.
When the government makes such a pitch for solar energy, it needs a credible plan of action. Although the solar vision has a horizon of 2050, where multiple governments will change, and we could see another generational shift, there should have been small year-on-year steps towards that goal. The solar dreams remain on paper, and the charge of malpractices in disbursing subsidy only exposes an ugly side.
Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte tried to soothe ruffled sentiments over water sports while justifying the government’s decision to regulate beach activity through GEL. The minister sought to allay apprehensions over privatising water sports operations by explaining how the system would eradicate touts who are ruining the business of locals and how locals would not stand to lose even a rupee.
The question is, why are the sports operators not taken on board when such radical operational changes are being affected in any tourism sector? The same is the case with model shacks. Local stakeholders need to be taken into confidence and engaged while introducing major policy decisions, and such changes need to be presented in a phased manner. A GEL team at the site cannot dictate terms of business to the operators at short notice. The intentions, even if they are reasonable, smack of suspicion.
While the tourism minister is focussing on eradicating touts, there is also a need to do away with such middlemen in every sphere of administration, commonly referred to as men with blackcoat. The biggest embarrassment the government faced on the opening day of the session was of hearing the names of people spelt out by its own leaders forcing Chief Minister Pramod Sawant to call for expunging the mention of them. It’s time for the leadership to wake up and smell the coffee.
