TEAM HERALD

PANJIM: Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar who announced zero tolerance to corruption as he was sworn in on March 16 , 2012 now swears that if he touches a single town planner in the Town and Country  Planning department, there will not be anyone in the department.

“There are some departments that over the years have got corroded,” the chief minister said, in the assembly while speaking on a debate on the Regional Plan. “Not even one town planner will remain. The department will be cleared out” (if he takes action against officials for corruption), the chief minister said.

Speaking during a debate on the question of the Regional Plan and whether it would be scrapped or not and when it would be finalized he said that he was wary of taking action against departments due to the deep seated rot in them. He blamed the Congress for the rot.

He included the mining department in the rotten list, a significant observation a day after the Shah Commission submitted the third part of its first interim report on illegal mining in Goa.

The same problem with the mining department,” in that department action has been taken, people have been suspended, even suicides have happened, and some are in jail.

The Mines Department has been accused of active collusion with industry and politicians in allowing large scale illegal mining in the state.

Even as the chief minister spoke, no one in the Congress took him on for these comments. The Curtorim MLA Alexio Reginaldo Lourenco was the only one who cornered Parrikar on his assurances to the house about scrapping the Regional Plan and working on a fresh one. Surprised at an MLA speaking his own language of facts and dates, the chief minister appeared to be on the back foot. But when he counter attacked the Congress on corruption, there was no one in the opposition who could even ask why he is tolerating corruption if he thinks the departments are corroded. It’s not difficult to figure why.