Team Herald
PANJIM: Congress rebuked the statement of Deputy Chief Minister Manohar Ajgaonkar that NGOs are opposing government projects, during a government function in Canacona.
Defending the role played by NGOs, Janardhan Bhandari, Goa Congress General Secretary, said the NGOs have always been working towards protecting Goa’s environment and that their vigilant approach is the reason why the State still maintains its identity.
“If the NGO’s stop acting as watchdogs, the corrupt politicians like Manohar Ajgaonkar would have sold Goa for their selfish gains,” said Bhandari, who is a social worker and youth leader from Canacona.
Congress condemned Ajgaonkar for blaming local NGOs for stalling various developmental projects and blamed the ‘inefficient’ Tourism Minister for being responsible for the total collapse of the State’s tourism industry. Congress further demanded that Chief Minister Pramod Sawant sacks Ajgaonkar as the tourism minister immediately.
“The tourism Minister should explain how much funds he brought from the central government and how much were actually utilized by the Tourism Department. It is not the NGOs, which are responsible for stopping or delaying the projects. It is the ‘Mission 30% Commission” of the tourism minister which has resulted in collapse of administration in tourism department,” said Bhandari.
He added that the tourism minister is clueless about what is happening in the tourism sector and not being concerned about the same.
“ The tourism minister and his family has become ‘tourists’ themselves and have travelled all across the world at the cost of various empanelled agencies, which have hosted events of the tourism department at different countries, he added.
Congress reiterated their demand that Ajgaonkar comes clean on the expenditure incurred on the foreign tours and that they wanted Ajgaonkar’s family members questioned as well.
Criticising Ajgaonkar for choosing to blame others for his failures, Congress questioned why the Tourism Master Plan and Tourism Policy had not been notified as yet.
“The beach safety and lifeguard services have gone for a toss resulting in high risk to the lives of visiting tourist venturing into the sea, piles of garbage accumulated on beaches, which has resulted in the local tourism stakeholders struggling for business,” Bhandari added.
Stating that Congress has always sympathised and supported the NGOs who have taken up the issues like the Regional Plan, SEZ, coal, casino and drugs, Bhandari said they are with the people on the Mhadei and Marina project issues.
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Ponda’s Cong block pays tribute to Indira Gandhi
The Ponda Congress Block paid rich tributes to the former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi at a programme held at Khadpabandh.
Ponda Congress MLA Ravi Naik, Block President Arun Gudekar, former Ponda Municipal Council Chairperson Kishore Naik and other Congress workers, offered floral tributes to Gandhi. They recalled her contributions and that she sacrificed her life for India, while referring to her assassination.
Naik spoke about of the partition of Pakistan and Bangladesh and how it was Gandhi who proved to be the greatest when it comes to safety of the nation. Calling her the most daring PM the country had seen, Naik played down, what he called ‘hype’ over the abrogation of Article 370 in Kashmir.
