Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Sunday revealed his cards and distributed portfolios to his eight Cabinet colleagues who until now were without any portfolios. It has immediately become clear that the big winner in the portfolio handouts is Vishwajit Rane. Rane, who was himself fancying a shot at the top spot has now been given a large share and is not only retaining the health portfolio that he has come to love so much but has also been handed the lucrative Town and Country Planning portfolio and the Forests portfolio.
Access to the TCP portfolio gives the minister unbridled powers over who gets to control how much of ‘development’ Goa will get. A good minister will ensure that Goa sees sustainable development with adequate safeguards in place to ensure that the identity of the State is kept intact and doesn’t fall to the greedy and plunderous real estate industry whose eyes have lit up at the prospect of the ‘second home’ market booming in Goa. On the other hand, a rapacious minister will use the opportunity to sell off as much as he can and leave no stone unturned to ensure that hitherto no go areas and orchard lands are parcelled up and sold to the highest bidder.
Similarly handing over the forest portfolio to Rane, who, if his recent comments are anything to go by, is no fan of the forest department and has gone on record to say that he is opposed to a tiger sanctuary in Goa even if the department has found there to be five tigers resident in the state, raises several questions. Rane has also been a staunch opponent of declaring Western Ghats villages as ecologically sensitive areas as recommended by the Madhav Gadgil Committee.
What Goa needed is a minister who will fight for its forests against those who wish to destroy them, not fight on behalf of those who wish to destroy them.
A similar question is to be asked of the ministers who have gotten other crucial portfolios like Nilesh Cabral, who is the minister of Public Works and Atanasio Monserrate who is the minister of Revenue.
At first glance we are tempted to believe that greed has won in this high stakes battle, however, it would be prudent to hold one's judgement until the ministers begin to perform and call them out if they don’t.
The distribution of portfolios low down the pecking order of those who support the BJP has fallen. Dhavalikar who has held several plum portfolios over the years will now have to make do with a portfolio like power. Similarly, it will be anybody’s guess that the smaller portfolios will be handed over to the independents who support the government.
Irrespective of who gets which portfolio, what the state needs is a system of checks and balances rather than one in which a minister is given a free run of his department. One hopes that probity in public lives is given the primacy it deserves rather than a government that is run at the whims and fancies of the ministers.
