MARGAO: The Goa Forward Party allegedly accusing Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant of seeking “to loot” the government undertakings, on Friday appealed to the Goa Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education’s General Council members to reject the proposal to remit the Board funds to the government treasury.
Spokesperson Prashant Naik pointed out that the Board’s highest body namely the Executive Council had at its meeting on February 8, clearly stated that the Board cannot remit any funds to the government treasury as asked for by the Finance Department.
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The Executive Council had pointed out that as per the law under which the Goa Board was established in 1975 there is no provision for remittance of any of its funds to the government treasury.
What is significant is that the Finance Department had asked the Goa Board to remit the Rs 19 crore it is having as corpus fund to the government treasury and as the Executive Council rejected the proposal, the government has now convened a General Council meeting on February 24, to decide on the same matter.
Prashant while disclosing that he has served the Goa Board for two terms said, “The Board funds are to be used for its own benefit and pointed out that currently the Board is in the process of constructing its own building premises.”
He asserted that Goa Board is an autonomous body and hence should have the right to decide what to do with its funds even though it is funded by the government since it is a government undertaking and accused the Chief Minister of seeking “to loot” the government undertaking.
“While on the one hand the Chief Minister claims of the State having received Rs 700 crore as GST and another Rs 100 crore to celebrate the 60th Liberation anniversary, why does he want to loot government undertakings of the very little money they have,” asked Prashant.
He said since its inception never has the Goa Board been asked to remit its finances to the government and said this was happening for the first time.
He condemned the move of the government and said it will not be tolerated and also appealed to all the General Council members to reject the proposal.
