Is the decision of the Registrar of Goa Cooperatives Society disqualifying seven members from the Board of Directors of Goa Dairy a significant step to cleaning up the mess plaguing the unit? Goa Diary has been embroidered in financial irregularities amounting to crores of rupees, with discrepancies in unsubstantiated purchases and financial disbursements resulting in hefty losses. Once again, a 3-member team of administrators is appointed to handle the affairs of the Goa Dairy for six months, during which the matters are to be settled.
The question is whether this is the turning point for Goa Diary, which has a muddied track record. It was in 2018 that seven directors were disqualified, and an administrator was appointed. The disqualification was subsequently challenged in April 2019, and the High Court asked the Registrar to initiate the inquiry afresh and hear the seven disqualified directors. However, eight directors were disqualified in August 2019 again for financial irregularities. Goa Dairy has been on a roller-coaster ride with charges of fraud, scams and financial mismanagement flying thick and fast. Moreover, the tussle between Madhav Sahakari and Rajesh Phaldessai has always been the dominating factor.
The question, however, is over the failure of the Registrar to set right the wrongs and take timely action based on the audit findings. Goa Dairy’s cup of woes began to fill in 2012 and took the centre stage only in 2017 with disqualifications and court battles. The question is, why did the Registrar fail to restore the credibility of Goa Dairy and clear it of the ills when there were damning audit reports? Why hasn’t Goa Dairy seen a revival over the years?
If the Registrar has failed, so has the system too. The directors who have been disqualified or accused of committing financial fraud had an overwhelming mandate in the 2022 Goa Dairy elections, and they, in turn, picked their chairman. So the circle of politics has come full.
If the opposition makes pointed references and suggestions for course correction, there may not be any takers because of the power equations at play. For example, when a section of the directors maintains that the cattle feeder plant is pulling them down, the chairman could find even the flimsiest reasons why he cannot temporarily shut down the feeder plant, and that argument wins because of a sheer majority.
Now that there is a team of administrators in place, it remains to be seen if they are able to bring about a transformation and treat suggestions on their practicality and merit. Moreover, it is to be seen if the administrators will get to the root of the fodder scam and other cases of misappropriation and bring the culprits to book.
The government, too, has a significant role in putting the Goa Dairy stable in order against the background of Chief Minister Pramod Sawant’s pet initiative of Swayampurna Goa. Otherwise, the failure of Goa Diary would be a massive setback for a government that talks about self-sustainability.
