VASCO
Vasco-based activist and member of Goa State Environment Protection Council (GEPC) Adv Savio Correia has written to Minister for Ports Jayesh Salgaoncar to replace the State government’s representative in the Board of Trustees (BoT) at Mormugao Port Trust (MPT).
Conveying his dismay at the lack of involvement and participation of the Secretary (Ports) in the meetings of BoT at MPT, Correia said RTI information furnished by MPT had revealed that the secretary (ports) had attended only one meeting of the MPT’s BoT in the last five years.
In his representation, Correia suggested that if the Secretary (Ports) was not interested or was preoccupied with other more pressing work, the government ought to depute another competent officer on the MPT’s BoT like the Captain of Ports or the South Goa Collector.
Correia claimed that even in that lone meeting on October 31, 2014, the Secretary (Ports) had been a silent spectator and there is no record of any contribution worth noting in the minutes of the meeting.
“The Major Ports Act 1963 provides for appointment of a representative of the State government on the BoT of the port to give due representation to the State in the management of the major port and to enable its involvement in policy-making and expansion plans. But sadly, this valuable right had been withered away by our government’s representative,” Correia said.
“MPT is on the threshold of massive expansion plans that are bound to have an impact on our State’s environment and infrastructure and its sustainable and planned development as a whole.”
“In this backdrop, the State government’s representative had an important role to play to protect the State’s interests,” Correia added.
Stating that the State government must seek an explanation from its representative on his negligent conduct, Correia said a process should be set up whereby the government’s representative interacts with the minister of ports before and after every board meeting.
