PORVORIM: The differences between Tourism Minister Manohar ‘Babu’ Azgaonkar and Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC) Chairman Nilesh Cabral – both from the ruling camp – was out in the open in the State Legislative Assembly during a discussion on the GTDC properties.
Azgaonkar, pointing at Cabral, said he will examine and review all the current and past dealings with the private firms by GTDC to rule out the possibility of illegalities. “I will investigate all the dealings that have been done in the past and which are currently in the pipeline, only after which we will go ahead with project. It is not my father’s property but it belongs to the government. Our government believes in transparency and everything will be transparent,” he said sending a signal that illegality or irregularity will not be allowed.
This resulted in a verbal spat between him and Cabral, who dared the minister to inquire into all the agreements of past 20 years. “Do an inquiry of last 20 years and take action. Just giving speeches is not enough,” he said angrily asking the minister to prove his claim of transparency. The minister quickly assured investigation into all the past agreements.
Azgaonkar was responding about loss faced by GTDC, a question tabled by Congress legislator Ravi Naik. “There are two-three more hotels which are going to be given to the private players on leave and license basis. All the agreements of GTDC would be examined and reviewed before going ahead with them,” he said. The minister said that GTDC has already agreed to hand over its property at Miramar to the private firm on leave and license agreement for 30 years. But the agreement will also be examined.
He explained about the profit GTDC would earn through this agreement for Miramar property. “From the existing 60 rooms, it will increase to 300 rooms. Jobs will increase from 300 to 900, of which 80 per cent will be reserved for Goans. From the present Rs 3 crore, the revenue will escalate to Rs 100 crore, with a profit of Rs 5 crore to the GTDC. Besides there are other taxes to the government,” he said.
The minister justified that giving away GTDC properties on leave and license was essentially with an aim to earn profit.
Meanwhile, in a written reply Azgaonkar said that due to effective and efficient management of idle and existing assets of the GTDC, and monetization of existing assets; GTDC has recorded excellent financial performance in the past five years.
“The Corporation which had recorded a severe loss of Rs 627.49 lakhs in the year 2011 – 12, saw a turnaround in its profits and has continuously recorded profits in the last five years. In the year 2016 – 17, the Corporation has recorded net profit of Rs.1.42 crores which is the highest recorded profit in the history of the Corporation,” he said.
