the goan I network
PANAJI
In his first direct intervention in governance in nearly two months, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Saturday directed bureaucrats to iron out the red-tape and speed up the processes of government recruitment in departments where the High Level Empowered Committee has finalised vacancies.
Parrikar gave the directions at the pre-scheduled meeting he had at his private residence with senior bureaucrats drawn from the finance and personnel departments as well as from his own office in the morning session.
At the meeting, the Chief Minister was briefed on the State’s financial position and revenue flows by Additional Secretary (Finance) Michael D’Souza, a source present told The Goan.
Besides D’Souza, the meeting was also attended by Additional Secretary (Personnel) Yetindra M Maralkar, managing director of Waste Management Corporation Sanjit Rodrigues among others. From the CMO side, Rupesh Kamat and Upendra Joshi were present.
The issues Parrikar picked for the meeting included the fast-tracking of the recruitment drive and the completion of work on the third Mandovi bridge. He was keen that the bridge be made operational by January to ease the traffic snarls and reduce the load of traffic from the existing two bridges, the source said.
The chief minister also asked the officials to iron out the administrative red-tape in a bid to address the concerns expressed by some of his cabinet colleagues and MLAs over the alleged tardiness in the hierarchy.
Parrikar, who is battling advanced pancreatic cancer, has faced intense criticism for running a government in absentia with the Opposition Congress, civil society and also allies in his coalition demanding that
BJP MLAs meet CM, broach mining issue
PANAJI: Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar will shortly be talking directly with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to push for the early resumption of iron ore mining, said Rajya Sabha MP and BJP’s Goa unit chief, Vinay Tendulkar, after a meeting he had with the ailing leader along with nine party legislators on Saturday evening.
Panchayat Minister Mauvin Godinho said Parrikar was well and asked each of the MLAs individually about their issues and difficulties.
“We told him to prevail on the BJP high command to activate the process to restart mining in Goa,” Godinho said, adding that it was a ‘lively’ meeting. He said, Parrikar is “much improved” and Saturday’s meeting was the first that he collectively met the MLAs after a long time. MLAs will begin meeting him individually from now on, he added.
