3 of 5 House Committee members endorse report
TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: Three of the five members of the House Committee, probing the alleged drug mafia-politicians link, gave their endorsement to the report which will be tabled on the concluding day of the session of the Legislative Assembly on Thursday.
The committee, led by Goa Vikas Party MLA Francisco Mickky Pacheco, met on Wednesday morning to adopt the draft report, which was circulated to the members on Tuesday.
Pacheco, his party colleague (Benaulim MLA) Caitan Silva and MGP legislator Lavoo Mamledar signed the report whereas BJP’s Michael Lobo and Vishnu Surya Wagh remained absent.
Wagh, when asked for the reason for his absence, said that since he was busy attending to people in his constituency at St Andre, he was late for the meeting.
Calangute legislator Michael Lobo raised objection to certain findings in the report which is why, he said, he did not give his approval to it.
“I am not opposing the entire report but I disagree with certain findings strongly. It has malafide intentions to tarnish the image of the police,” he said when contacted by Herald for his reaction.
Lobo will submit a dissent letter to the Assembly Speaker Rajendra Arlekar and Pacheco before the sessions begins on Thursday morning. “I am raising my objections on the floor of the House tomorrow,” Lobo said.
The Committee was to submit its report by December last year but had sought extensions till it could finally be tabled during this Assembly session.
The committee was formed during the monsoon session in August 2012 to probe the alleged involvement of politicians including former home minister Ravi Naik’s son Roy, in the lethal nexus. More than half-a-dozen police officers including those suspended and now re-instated who allegedly shielded this nexus, and several others linked to the trade were put under the scanner during the inquiry.
