the goan I network
PANAJI
Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar may be ailing but he isn’t failing as he more than adequately demonstrated by his handling of questions with typical efficiency, his frequent interjections to bail out fumbling Cabinet colleagues and generally skippering his illness stricken coalition through the monsoon session of the Goa legislative assembly which ended on Friday.
Although he seemed frail and faltered at the start of the session, when the Opposition Congress briefly stole the initiative with its uproar over the ‘formalin in fish’ row wiping out the first two days of the session, Parrikar gradually came into his own despite having to bear the burden of handling portfolios of three of his seriously ill Cabinet colleagues -- Sudin Dhavalikar, Francis D’Souza and Pandurang Madkaikar.
His statement on the formalin-in-fish row on the floor of the House, may not have been clinical to instill confidence in the public or erase the damage already caused to his government as the controversy raged, but it seemingly derailed the rampaging Opposition which had managed to completely disrupt the first two days’ proceedings and derive mileage. The chief minister and the ruling camp also came out trumps on the arithmetic in the House. The ruling side’s floor managers ensured ailing members of the coalition stayed present at crucial voting junctures.
Twice in the session when division was sought and heads were counted, the ruling coalition sailed through the votes comfortably on both occasions and it was in fact the Opposition that faltered. Although not uncharacteristic, Churchill Alemao’s oscillation from the Opposition to the ruling side, in these two vote counts, was indeed conspicuous.
On the other side of the aisle, the Opposition Congress which began with gusto seemingly faded as the session progressed. Its Curtorim MLA Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco remained the pick of its flock, even as four of its ex-Cms -- Luizinho Faleiro, Digambar Kamat, Pratapsing Rane and Ravi Naik -- chose to strike in patches and played mere cameo roles in the Opposition.
Not once did the Opposition manage to put any of the ministers in the dock, either during Question Hour or in the discussion on demands for grants. Several Congress members also adopted an unusual tactic of prefixing their utterances with “Ho minister borem kam korta” (this minister is doing good work) and whether it was flattery or sarcasm was difficult to tell.
Apart from the government-sponsored appropriation bill, the 12-day session did transact some serious legislative business, the most significant of which was the Bill piloted by TCP Minister Vijai Sardesai to amend and incorporate the TDR concept in the TCP Act.
Although the initiative had evoked sharp and widespread reactions among greens and political parties outside, inside the House, the proceedings when the Bill was but a no-show.
The pros and cons of the sweeping land use reform were insufficiently debated perhaps because the Opposition Congress committed the tactical blunder of failing to move any amendments. Instead, all it did was lamely move a motion to refer the bill to a ‘select committee’ which predictably got defeated.
The much debated and talked of mining imbroglio saw unusual the closing of ranks among legislators. Barring a couple of voices, notably Faleiro and Lourenco, the House saw vociferous support for a resolution to empower CM Manohar Parrikar to negotiate with the Centre an amendment to the Central mining law which will re-validate leases up to 2037 and ostensibly ensure speedy resumption of the economic activity. The resolution was unanimously passed.
Among other business of note, the Session also enacted a law to create a PDA for Mopa airport encompassing five panchayats around the international airport site.
Nonetheless on a larger canvass, the Session which saw the House sitting for 82 hours, left much to be desired in terms of depth of the issues debated, intensity and sharpness of the Opposition’s attack on the government and the overall quality of the legislative transactions.
Pratapsing Rane and Luizinho Faleiro clamouring for an Ordinance mid-way into the session and Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar agreeing to promulgate it after studying the legality of criminalising failure to take sewerage connections, perhaps sums it up. The three senior members collectively account for nearly a 100 years in the House, and who better than them among the 40 members to discern that an ‘Ordinance’ the ‘State’ is to resort to only in exigencies, when the legislature isn’t in session and unlikely to convene anytime soon.
