the goan I network
PANAJI
In the past two years, over Rs 4 crore of state money has been spent on Tourism Minister Manohar (Babu) Ajgaonkar’s trips/events abroad along with several other Tourism officials. This expense does not include the around two dozen trips made abroad, also paid for by the state in crores, of which the Tourism Minister was not part of.
The details of the same were given by the Tourism Minister himself on Wednesday in an unstarred question tabled by Leader of Opposition Digambar Kamat.
Kamat had asked for the details of each tour of Ministers/MLAs/Government Officials and the total amount spent on foreign tours/junkets and travel marts since 1st April 2016 till date.
Since taking over as Minister in 2017, Ajgaonkar has been abroad on state funds eight times. Purportedly in relation to tourism in Goa, Nilesh Cabral as Chairman of GTDC, and Nikhil Dessai as MD of GTDC, as well as former principal secretary of tourism Dharmendra Sharma IAS have also travelled abroad on state funds.
In the year 2017-18, Ajgaonkar travelled for the Otdykh
Leisure 2017 from the 19th to the 21st of September 2017, in Moscow, Russia. He was accompanied by Rajesh Kale, Dy Director of Tourism, and Kapil Painguinkar, the Dy General Manager (Company Affairs) of the GTDC. The actual amount paid to the EMA for the event exclusive of tax was Rs 55,03,000/- An additional over Rs 2 lakhs were spent for the bills of travel and accommodation, visa fees, insurance, and DA of the two officials accompanying the Minister. The bills for all Ajgaonkar’s travel and accommodation, visa fees, insurance, and DA (for all the trips) is to be borne by the General Administrative Department (GAD). No figures were mentioned.
In the same month, Ajgaonkar travelled to Paris, France for the IFTM from the 26th to the 29th of September 2017. Accompanying him were Menino D’Souza, Director of Tourism, and Arvind Khutkar, OSD to Department of Tourism.
The amount paid for this trip exclusive of tax was Rs 44,97,000/-
From 17th to 21st January, 2018, Ajgaonkar travelled to Fitur, Spain. Agnelo D’souza Machado, Asst Accounts Officer, Department of Tourism, and Laxmikant Vaigankar, General Manager [Admin] GTDC accompanied him. The cost of the trip was Rs 57,04,000/-
A little later that year, Ajgaonkar attended a roadshow at Chicago and New York in the United States of America from 22nd to 24th May, 2018. He was accompanied by Nilesh Cabral, Dharmendra Sharma IAS and Rajesh Kale. The actual amount to the EMA for the event exclusive of tax was Rs 89,28,706.
Ajgaonkar then went to the CEMS Beijing International Travel Mart [BITM] from the 5th to the 7th September, 2018 at China. Accompanying him were Sheo Pratap Singh IAS, the Secretary for Tourism, and Subash Kavlekar, Asst Director of Tourism. The cost of the trip was Rs 34,36,160/-
For a one-day roadshow at Milan, Italy on 29th October 2018, Ajgoankar was accompanied by Sheo Pratap Singh IAS and Gavin Dias, the GM of GTDC. The cost of the trip was Rs 32,31,194/-
The Tourism Minister attended the WTM 2018 from November 5 to 7 at London along with Rajesh Kale, Nikhil Desai and Pramod Badami, Chief Engineer “Project Cell, GTDC. The cost of the trip was Rs 1,17,82,654/-
And finally, this year, Ajgaonkar attended the Arab Travel Mart Dubai from April 28 to 1 May 2019, along with three other tourism officials. The bill for the same has not yet been settled.
