Call it 'providence' for the Opposition, ill luck for the government and Art & Culture Minister Govind Gaude or simply the fate of the State and its people, the collapse of the slab of Kala Academy's open-air auditorium on the eve of the start of the ongoing monsoon session of the Goa legislative assembly, set the tone for the discourse in the hallowed precincts of the 'temple of democracy': the government pushed to the backfoot and a God-given shot-in-the-arm to the hopelessly outnumbered Opposition. And the latter seized it with all 14 hands on deck.
No sooner the last note of the national anthem played out and Speaker Ramesh Tawadkar called out for the agenda to be taken up, the seven members led by Opposition Leader Yuri Alemao sprung into action demanding a discussion on the collapse of the roof slab of the Kala Academy's open-air auditorium.
With the Speaker rejecting their 'adjournment motion' to suspend question hour and discuss the Kala Academy mishap instead, the Opposition did not budge. They rushed to the well of the House holding placards and forced the Speaker to resort to a half-an-hour adjournment. A lame 'I will speak during zero hour' attempt from Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, failed to tame them.
Gaude cornered,
CM orders probe
The Speaker may not have obliged and rejected the consistent demand to take up discussion of the Kala Academy mishap before all else, but the Opposition, particularly Yuri Alemao and Vijai Sardesai, had drawn blood at least perceptually cornering the Art & Culture Minister Govind Gaude with a flurry of corruption allegations in the never-ending renovation contract of the iconic Charles Correa-designed edifice, lacing the attack with a demand for either his resignation or sacking.
The Opposition only relented when the government side stepped back to concede an independent probe into the incident and assurance to punish those involved.
Sawant made the announcement of having ordered an investigation by a third party (IIT-Rourkee) and promising that those responsible will "not be spared". He also assured that the inquiry report will be placed before the House in this session itself.
All said and done, Gaude, at the end of the first day's sitting, was left red-faced against the Opposition's onslaught, being the minister in-charge and clutching on to fig leaf offered to him in the CM's explanation -- the collapsed portion was ostensibly not a part of the renovation contract and that the refurbished part was unaffected by the mishap.
CM agrees to higher
wages of Balrath staff
Another issue that gave the Opposition a handle to corner the government in the House from day one was the strike resorted to by the drivers and attendants of the 'Balrath' buses which inconvenienced thousands of students getting to schools.
The treasury benches may have symbolically stolen the show with the supporting Independent, Dr Chandrakant Shetye and the Lobo couple -- Michael and Delilah -- tabling the calling attention motion, but it was a well-prepared Opposition that lent a tone to the discussion on the issue which was sympathetic to the demands of higher wages for the drivers and attendants.
Despite initially attempting to hold his ground by arguing that the Balrath scheme had already been modified and the wages upped by Rs 1,000 a month, the Chief Minister eventually took the cue from the overwhelmingly sympathetic sentiment of the House and agreed to grant the concession. A day later, the agitating drivers and attendants were brought to the table, promised a substantial increase in their wages and the strike withdrawn.
Smart City: The summer chaos
continued into monsoon session
Already pilloried by consistent criticism through the summer months when the capital city was struggling to cope with the mess caused by the execution of 'Smart City' works, the government suffered another round of relentless scrutiny when Opposition members forced a debate on the much-maligned project using the 'Calling Attention Motion' legislative tool.
Member after member turned the heat on the government with hundreds of crores splurged on the project but very little to show in terms of substantive improvement in any aspect of the capital city's infrastructure. Be it Alemao, Sardesai or the other Opposition legislators including Venzy Viegas, Viresh Borkar or Carlos Alvares Ferreira, the government side had very few answers to come up with for the questions raised.
In the end, Revenue Minister Atanasio (Babush) Monserrate, who incidentally also represents Panaji, conceded that there was nothing 'smart' that has come out of the Smart City project, but sought to lay blame on the former CEO of the Imagine Panaji Smart City Development Limited (IPSCDL) Swayandipta Pal Chaudhuri as the "main culprit".
Sawant too chipped in to formally admit on the floor of the House that there were mistakes made and glitches in coordination between the multiple departments, agencies and contractors involved in the execution of the works.
He however refused to accept the Opposition's demand for a House Committee probe into the gambit of issues on 'Smart City' raised by them and instead promised to set things right through government processes.
Both Sawant and Monserrate also sought to assure the Opposition and the House that all the Smart City work will be completed within six months post the monsoon and pleaded for patience.
Question Hour
Over the first four sittings of the House, several ministers were caught on the wrong foot with the members of the Opposition hurling questions and supplementary questions during the 'Question Hour', a no-escape legislative compulsion irrespective of the government's brute majority.
If Industries Minister Mauvin Godinho was fumbling through files in his attempt to untangle the quagmire of the mismatch in figures of jobs created through the projects cleared by the Investment Promotion Board (IPB), his colleague and Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte was made to sweat in justifying the grant of long leases on some government-owned properties, including Panaji's river-front 'Quarterdeck', at seemingly under-valued prices.
Godinho, otherwise seasoned at blunting Opposition onslaughts, was found wanting in justifying the numbers after official government papers threw up two sets of figures on jobs generated through the IPB. While Sawant had claimed that 2,899 jobs were created, Godinho put the figure at 10,832.
Sardesai lost no time in picking on this discrepancy and slammed the government for lack of seriousness in job creation in the investments proposed through IPB.
“The promise to create 50,000 jobs through IPB has all but failed,” Sardesai said.
Alemao too cited another answer to a query which told him only 55 Goans had got jobs to slam the government for lack of concern to create gainful employment for locals.
Sardesai also put Khaunte on the mat alleging that the leasing of tourism properties to private entities sans proper procedure or adhering to CVC guidelines.
Britona, Miramar and Colva residencies of Goa tourism were handed over for 60 years and the prime 'Quarterdeck' riverside premises at Panaji had gone for a paltry Rs 63 lakh per year.
Khaunte sought to wriggle out of the charge claiming there was "nothing to hide" and proper procedures were followed.
National Games
expenditure
The Opposition also used the question hour to pin down Sports Minister Govind Gaude on the upcoming National Games expenditure alleging a 'big scam'.
Duplication of works at the Campal swimming pool, refurbishing of the synthetic track in Peddem-Mapusa and repairing of the Bambolim stadium were some of the works Sardesai said were executed just a few years ago and were being repeated.
“The 37th National Games will be the next Commonwealth Games scam," Sardesai alleged.
Gaude sought to argue that the tender at Campal had nothing to do with the swimming pool by the detached diving pool which was not touched in the previous tender.
Alvares Ferreira also joined in urging the government to refrain from appointing consultants for every work and instead to rely on engineers from government departments.
Land conversion
Conversion of private forests and other green zones on a large scale was another issue that the government found itself on the backfoot during the zero hour.
St Andre MLA Viresh Borkar alleged collusion with builders who are being issued permissions to cut trees in private forests, citing specific instances in his constituency.
Sawant however argued that permissions granted were "outside" the areas demarcated as private forests.
Cornered on Mhadei
The opposition cornered the government for its failure to achieve any tangible headway in the Mhadei river diversion dispute with Karnataka.
Alemao, Sardesai, Viegas, Alvares Fereira among others raised questions about the State government's seriousness in resolving the issue even as Sawant sought to cite the Supreme Court's recent admission of the challenge to the tribunal award and the Centre's notification of PRAWAH to counter them.
The Opposition MLAs also faulted the government's legal strategy in failing to press for contempt proceedings while Karnataka continued to divert the river's waters.
WRD Minister Subhash Shirodkar meanwhile said that the House Committee on Mhadei will be convened to meet soon where all the nitty-gritty of the vexed issue will be discussed threadbare.
