PANJIM: Tourism Minister Dilip Parulekar was left red-faced when the Opposition benches, besides his party colleague Michael Lobo questioned the authenticity of the records of tourists’ arrivals available from Airports Authority of India (AAI). To worsen the situation, protem Speaker Mauvin Godinho asked him to remain armed with all the tourism-related data while also seeking action against tourism officials over this failure.
“We are a tourist State. Whatever information the members (of the legislative assembly) are asking for should have been with you. The tourism department needs to be pulled up for not doing their homework,” Godinho told the minister on the second day of the winter session of the assembly on Tuesday.
His remark came after Leader of the Opposition Pratapsingh Rane, Nuvem legislator Francisco ‘Mickky’ Pacheco and BJP’s Michael Lobo demanded to know the number of tourists arriving at Dabolim airport, number of tourist visas on arrival offered and coordination meetings held with AAI.
Parulekar’s reply that 90 percent of air passengers were tourists even as he conceded that AAI lacks a mechanism to categorize tourists and regular air-passengers, created an uproar with Mickky raising doubts on the records.
“Are you lying to the State? Did you inquire with AAI whether the figures it submitted to you are correct? Ask them for correct data,” Mickky demanded angrily when Parulekar vaguely replied to his starred question on the number of tourists at the airport from 2012 to 2015.
The tourism minister, relying on the data submitted by AAI, said 90 percent of air passengers were tourists. “I can confirm the exact number of visitors in hotels based on details from the hotel industry but it is difficult to get a bifurcation of arrivals at Dabolim. AAI does not have the mechanism to identify tourists and regular passengers,” he added, further explaining that charter flights are the only way to confirm international tourists while the confusion lies with passengers traveling by scheduled flights.
To get a clear picture of the international tourists, the Leader of the Opposition sought the number of visa on arrivals offered till date. “I do not have the data at the moment,” Parulekar said. He received quick criticism from the senior congress legislator who rued, “This minister is incompetent. He doesn’t know anything.”
The minister tried countering his opposition stating if questions were specifically asked in the House, he would have all the required answers. It was here that the protem Speaker intervened asking the minister to have details on the subject although specific queries did not follow. “…These are simple things,” he added to his long comment.
Amidst the noise on the floor of the House, BJP legislator Michael Lobo, known to be the minister’s rival then questioned Parulekar about coordination meetings held with AAI and facilities offered on arrival at the airport.
“To reply to his question, I have to say that in the last two and a half years, Oman Air, Qatar Airways, Etihad Airways, Air Asia and Thomas Cook have brought passengers to Goa. We are regularly in talks with AAI and the Defense Ministry. Since we have held meetings, this is the result,” Parsekar said.
But Lobo was prompt to allege that Parulekar was lying on the coordination meetings with AAI. He also questioned the lack of facilities for arrivals at the airport.
To this, the protem Speaker reiterated that a mechanism needs to be in place to get accurate details of the arrivals at the airport. “Please devise a way to find out whether there is coordination between the tourism department and AAI,” Godinho said.
