MAPUSA
Shrilling the poll pitch in Siolim constituency, former WRD minister and Goa Forward MLA, Vinoda Paliencar alleged that a minister in the BJP-led government has been lording over illegal drugs trade in Siolim and the entire coastal belt and demanded that Chief Minister Pramod Sawant sack the minister from his cabinet.
Paliencar, on Sunday, also said that he has done enough development works in the constituency even as the key Siolim-Marna and Assagao roads would be repaired and hot-mixed by the end of this month.
“Pablo Escobar, who is a minister in the current government, is running the narcotics trade in Siolim and the coastal belt and bringing bad name to the BJP. The chief minister should drop him from the cabinet within a week,” Paliencar said without taking names but obviously referring to the Calangute MLA.
When asked to name the minister, he refused, in order from defiling his mouth but admitted that the minister was from Bardez.
He said a lot of illegal activities like prostitution and drug trafficking was going on in the neighbouring (Calangute) constituency but the concerned MLA could not see the illegalities going on in his own constituency but was trying to find faults in other constituencies.
He recalled that the minister, who was earlier his friend, would advise him not to speak on drugs whenever he tried to raise the issue.
According to Palienkar, an “outsider” has never been elected as an MLA in the Siolim constituency.
“Siolim has always preferred a Bhandari as their representative. It’s surprising this minister cannot find a worthy Bhandari candidate but wants to field his wife from the constituency obviously with selfish interest,” he said while addressing the media in Mapusa.
He said people of Siolim were wise enough to decide and the results on the counting day would shock the minister.
The Siolim MLA said he has done enough development work in the constituency in the last five years, of which, first two and half years he was a minister.
He said he has set up a power sub-station worth Rs 6 crore besides taking up underground power cabling in Anjuna.
He said he was instrumental in getting the Tillari pipeline works of around Rs 350 crore completed, which was pending for a long time.
“This work will ensure that people in the constituency will get water supply for next 50 years,” he said and added that a sump for storage of water has also been constructed in Anjuna.
He said the government should ensure that the 30 mld water treatment plant is set up at the earliest in Siolim.
