PANJIM: Amidst questions over delays in deciding the event management agency for Carnival 2018, which is about 12 days away, the State Level Marketing and Promotion Committee (SLMPC) of Tourism Department finally convened its first meeting on Monday.
The committee, headed by Tourism Minister Manohar (Babu) Azgaonkar, discussing on the tender processing, decided to outsource the organisation for the four-day long extravaganza as well as the upcoming food festival.
The meeting that was attended by Babu Quenim, Nandan Kudchadkar, Suraj Morajkar and Lavina Fernandes among others, reportedly expressed utter dissatisfaction on the delay in starting the process for selection of an agency.
Surprisingly, Goa Tourism Development Corporation chairman Nilesh Cabral did not attend the meeting. When contacted by Herald, he refused to comment. The committee also has Tourism Secretary Mathew Samuels and Tourism Director Menino D’Souza on board.
Sources said that in the list of empanelled agencies for organising the two festivals has very few event management agencies but presentations were reportedly made before the committee on the design, decor, lead tableau, etc. Sources said it will take at least one week to zero in on any one agency, by which time it will be barely three days before the annual festival.
However, one for the members said the event management agency is likely to be selected on Tuesday, which is when this year’s King Momo will also be chosen.
