PANJIM: While Chennai was drowned in the rain deluge and sank in a flood of misery, help from ruling BJP MLAs of Goa, who have been asked to pitch for Chennai and not spend of Manohar Parrikar’s birthday is only just trickling out.
While some MLAs have indeed loosened their purse strings, most appear to be tightfisted. Vishnu Wagh, Michael Lobo are who have announced contributions of Rs 50,000 and Rs 1 lakh each, while Mr and Mrs Dilip Parulekar have pledged just Rs 10,000 each to a Tamilian society and declared that another cheque of Rs 25,000 will be sent to the Chief Ministers relief fund. Small change really, but still.
Others like Chief Minister Parsekar and Panchayat Minister Rajendra Arlekar have said that their contributions would go but no dates are in the offing. In fact Rajendra Arlekar got peeved when the Herald reporter called to ask him the amount he had or was willing to contribute. He angrily shot backs saying it was his private decision. And surprisingly he immediately logged on to Facebook and launched a tirade against Herald for asking such a question.
He said “Today evening I got a call from Herald asking how much I have donated to the Chennai Relief Fund. I was puzzled and upset. Why should I make public what I have done for my brothers and sisters in Chennai? I told the reporter, there is no need to publicize what I have done for my brothers in Chennai. It’s my prime duty.”
Herald would like to point out to the minister that we had no intention to “publicise”, but inquire and inform our readers whether senior BJP leaders were indeed using a part of their hard-earned money on the victims of Chennai’s worst disaster. And we demand that all of them including Mr Arlekar declare the amount they have actually donated instead of hackneyed remarks like “It’s my prime duty”.
Moreover, since Mr Arlekar was online and had time to attack Herald on social media, he could have as well transferred money instantly to the CM’s fund
Panjim MLA Siddharth Kuncolienkar and Sakhali MLA Dr Pramod Sawant have announced they will be donating to the fund. Goa wants to know by when and how much is their contribution. Kunkolienkar has refused to divulge the amount of His contribution. “We are doing so on humanitarian grounds. It is an obligation that we do something for society and we have been contributing during such calamities,” he said. People of Goa would like to see evidence of the same.
Importantly, the Goa BJP unit has still not released funds for Chennai relief, as its members claim they are occupied with the preparations for the Mr Parrikar’s birthday scheduled on Sunday, obviously a greater priority. “The party has not taken a decision (on contributing to Chennai) but the party has asked its workers and supporters not to release advertisements or offer flower bouquets to him (Parrikar). Currently we are busy with the preparations,” Sawant told Herald.
