THE LIKELY SCENARIO
VIKAS GAUNEKAR
>> North Goa's Additional Collector is tipped to be moved as Additional Secretary (Finance), the position held for long by Michael D'Souza
DISTRICT MAGISTRATES
>> Of North and South Goa may also be changed. R Meneka and Ajit Roy (both IAS) were posted ahead of Lok Sabha elections
HEADS OF DEPARTMENTS
>> Chopping and shifting of Goa civil service cadre officers is also on the cards but it is uncertain that it will be effected on Monday itself
PANAJI: In the driver's seat after quelling murmurs in his cabinet over exercising his choice for additional portfolio distribution to colleagues, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant is expected to effect a major shuffling of the State's bureaucracy on Monday in a bid to take a grip of the administration.
According to sources in the Chief Minister's Office, a complete overhaul of the senior bureaucracy is also expected to take place simultaneously with the notification on the allocation of portfolios to ministers on Monday.
Additional portfolios were allocated to the ministers by Sawant on Friday last. The file was approved by the Governor Mridula Sinha but the notification was held back after some ministers voiced objections over the choice of portfolios allocated to them.
He however talked the dissenting ministers out of their combative mood and later announced that his decision on portfolio distribution stands unchanged but the notification will be issued on Monday.
Sawant, an unknown quantity in handling the administration, had also finalised transfers of bureaucrats which were also kept on hold following the portfolio distribution hiccup. He is expected to place bureaucrats of his choice in key positions of the finance, personnel and the general administration departments at the Secretariat.
North Goa's Additional Collector Vikas Gaunekar is tipped to be moved as Additional Secretary (Finance). The position, which is crucial to ensure fiscal discipline and macro-manage the largely in the red coffers of the State, was held for long by the no-nonsense Michael D'Souza.
D'Souza, who has seemingly ruffled one too many political feathers with his stickler-for-rules demeanor, is expected to be shifted out of the Secretariat as Director of Industries, Trade and Commerce. He is also likely to be given the additional charge of managing director of Kadamba Transport Corporation, the State-owned public bus transport company.
Sawant may also change the two district magistrates of North and South Goa - R Meneka and Ajit Roy. Both officers of the Indian Administrative Services (IAS) cadre, Meneka and Roy were posted ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
Chopping and shifting of Goa civil service cadre officers holding charge of heads of departments is also on the cards but it is uncertain that it will be effected on Monday itself. Also, after facing criticism from cabinet colleagues for his unilateral decision on portfolio distribution, Sawant may take the ministers into confidence over posting of bureaucrats to head departments which are directly under their charge.
Only in his third month in office, Sawant took over reigns after the death of Manohar Parrikar in mid-March. A greenhorn and untested in administrative skills, it is the first time he is holding office in a government.
First elected to the Goa Legislative Assembly in 2012 from Sanquelim (formerly Pale), the only administrative position in the political executive he held was that of chairman of Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation.
Post the 2017 assembly elections when he returned to the House from Sanquelim, he was elected to the constitutional post of Speaker until Parrikar's death after which he became chief minister.
The specter of a hamstrung administration during the nearly year-long illness of Parrikar which eventually led to his death, the clock is ticking for Sawant to begin calling the shots and steering the executive into action mode. Whether he cuts ice with the top bureaucracy in a manner his predecessor was known to, is a question which many inside and outside the government will be keen to seek answers in the coming months.
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Coalition partners, Ajgaonkar
to meet CM over portfolios
ANXIETY OF ALLY
>> Vijai Sardesai said he would have a meeting with the Chief Minister and discuss the issue concerning Goa Forward Minister Vinoda Paliencar not getting any portfolio
>> He said he would also discuss with the Chief Minister the issue regarding allocation of the Musuem portfolio to Jayesh Salgaokar
DISCONTENT
AJGAONKAR
>> The Babu Ajgaonkar camp reminded both the Chief Minister and the BJP president that he was promised the Transport portfolio at the time when he and PWD Minister Deepak Pauskar had quit the MGP to embrace the BJP
MARGAO: Chief Minister Pramod Sawant will be the center of attention on Monday as the alliance partners as well as ministers aggrieved by the allocation of additional portfolios are expected to call on him on Monday.
With resentment brewing amongst his Cabinet colleagues over the portfolios allocated by the Chief Minister on Friday, Sawant is expected to give an audience to the alliance partners to allay misgivings, if any, on the portfolios.
Goa Forward Chief and deputy Chief Minister Vijai Sardesai on Sunday said he would call on the Chief Minister on Monday and discuss with him all issues concerning portfolio allocation.
Sources in the camp of Babu Ajgaonkar also said the Deputy Chief Minister will also expect the Chief Minister to honour the promise made to him that he would be rewarded the Transport portfolio during the second round of portfolio allocation.
The Goa Forward Chief told The Goan on Sunday that he would have a meeting with the Chief Minister and discuss the issue concerning Goa Forward Minister Vinoda Paliencar not getting any portfolio in the distribution of portfolios.
'I will also discuss with the Chief Minister the issue regarding allocation of the Musuem portfolio to our Minister Jayesh Salgaokar', he added. Though Sardesai had his way when he got the Forest portfolio after he laid his claim on the portfolio, he did not protest over the fact that Party Minister Palienkar had to go without any portfolio.
Sources said that RDA Minister Jayesh Salgaokar is also not happy with the Musuem portfolio and is believed to have told the party supreme that he would not even mind if the Chief Minister takes back the portfolio.
Meanwhile, sources in the Babu Ajgaonkar camp informed that the Deputy Chief Minister has already discussed the denial of the Transport portfolio to him with the Chief Minister as well as BJP president Vinay Tendulkar.
It is learnt that Ajgaonkar reminded both the Chief Minister and the BJP president that he was promised the Transport portfolio at the time when he and PWD Minister Deepak Pauskar had quit the MGP to embrace the BJP.
The Ajgaonkar camp further maintained that the Transport portfolio should have come to him since the portfolio was held by MGP leader Sudin Dhavlikar, adding that while Deepak Pauskar had got the PWD portfolio held earlier by Sudin, the Transport portfolio ought to have come to Ajgaonkar going by the same yardstick.
