Panaji
The Youth Wing of the Congress on Monday went to meet the CEO of the Investment Promotion Board (IPB) Vishal Prakash to demand answers on Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar reportedly chairing the IPB meet via video conferencing.
In the absence of the CEO, who is reportedly not in Goa at the moment, Congress party members met Officer on Special Duty (OSD) of the IPB, Tulsidas Pai.
Pai, who was willing to give details like which members of the IPB were present at the meet, and what time the meet took place, refused to comment on whether Parrikar had participated in the meet via video-conference or not.
“Till the minutes of the meeting are signed, I cannot comment on this,” said Pai. “We will issue a statement to the press as soon as the minutes are signed.” Congress members then demanded to know why the minutes were not ready five days after the meeting.
Pai also went on to say that what was reported in the media about Parrikar chairing the meeting via video-conference, had not been informed to the media by IPB officials. When asked why the IPB hadn’t contradicted these reports, Pai did not answer.
The Congress delegation pointed out that IPB meetings needed to take place once a month, and that the meeting held last Wednesday had been held after three months, the last one being held on July 20.
Section 4 Clause 1 of the IPB Act mandates that a meeting should be held every month, said Adv Diya Shetkar. Clause 2 of the Act says that the Chairman (Parrikar) needs to be present at the meeting to approve all sanctions. “Yet, all projects that were sanctioned at the meet, amounting to crores of rupees, were done so without Parrikar’s presence. The same is illegal,” said Shetkar.
Pai has said that eight people were present at the meeting in person. These are: IT Minister Rohan Khaunte, Tourism Secretary Shiv Pratap, the CEO of IPB, and board members Shekhar Sardesai, Girish Bharne, Atrey Sawant, Rajkumar Kamat, and Ernest Dias.
The Congress continues to maintain its stand that Parrikar did not chair the IPB meeting that took place last Wednesday.
The Opposition party maintains that this is a lie and that no one saw the CM, who is also Chairman of the IPB, chair the meeting via video-conference. They had previously challenged the government to reveal photos of the same, if it was indeed true.
