Just at a time when jobs and employment have been a subject of intense political debate, Town and Country Planning Minister Vijai Sardesai has fired a salvo demanding 50 percent of the jobs for his people of Fatorda at the upcoming South Goa District Hospital in Margao.
Vijai is part of the Task Force that has been formed to expedite, monitor and ensure timely construction of the hospital. The committee is authorised to guide and make suggestions to the GSIDC in matters relating to its construction besides also overseeing other functional aspects. The TCP minister has made his intentions clear saying that he would not be happy in just overseeing the work. While arguing his case, he said that people who have lost their land and suffered immensely must be compensated.
By demanding a 50 percent job quota, he is virtually slamming the doors on other eligible Goans who aspire to get a job there, and in fact has thrown Goemkarponn to the wind. Purely going by the numbers, one wonders how many residents of Fatorda constituency can fit into the requirements since the government has taken a policy decision not to directly recruit Class D category posts, but outsource them to agencies.
The job quota demand however has more of a political flavour wrapped around. This is a strange case where a minister is making a huge job claim in a department held by another minister and is in stark contrast to the commonly followed practice where respective ministers take the lion's share of the available jobs in their departments. What Vijai has now done is he has sent a strong message to the health minister staking his claim for jobs. He has also reminded the chief minister of his pre-alliance demand.
The South Goa District Hospital is a make-or-break project for Vijai, whose popularity has been on the wane since joining the BJP-led coalition government. This is one big opportunity for the local MLA to win back the confidence that he has miserably lost. The only way he can achieve this is by getting jobs for his people and silence his critics. The demand of 50 per cent jobs per se may look irrational, but going by pure politics that has been played out in Fatorda, this is one big opportunity and a game changer for Vijai to claw back.
Although an estimate of job requirements is not drawn, a fair guess would be double the jobs at Hospicio, since the bed capacity will be up to 500 from the current 250 beds at the existing hospital. It is only in 2018 that vacancies will be announced and a clear picture of the jobs available will come to light. The contours of political scenario in the State may have a different shape by then, but to satiate Vijai's hunger for jobs in his health minister's department is certainly going to be a tightrope walk for the chief minister. It is also to be seen as to what extent the health minister will let go and concede to Vijai's demands. This is one of those issues where the stability of the government will be under test.
