PANJIM: Art and Culture Minister Govind Gaude, when asked to explain an allegation of grave corruption levelled against his department for siphoning, said he is warming up to bat, in what he calls a (cricket) game.
The cruel irony in this statement is that transparency and clean governance appear to have been hit for a six.
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Shockingly, the Goa government is yet to order an inquiry into the allegations of siphoning of grants belonging to the Directorate of Art and Culture by some cultural organisation from Canacona taluka.
Following allegations by Assembly Speaker Ramesh Tawadkar and panchayat members from three village panchayats of Canacona taluka on Friday, the government is learnt to have asked the Director of Art and Culture Sagun Velip to conduct an inquiry and submit the report.
But there is no order from the government regarding the inquiry even as the Director of Art and Culture has started internally looking into the allegations to bring the facts before the government.
It is learnt that the department has asked the cultural organisations from Canacona taluka to submit to the office the details of the programmes organised by them in August last year. One of the organisations accused of siphoning of grants without holding the programme, on Monday, submitted its details to the department.
Meanwhile, the artists have slammed the government for allowing the misuse of taxpayers’ money and demand that the same be recovered.
Artiste Rajdeep Naik said that he had expected that since the Speaker had made allegations, the government would order an inquiry and recover the grants from the defaulting organisations. But there is no clarity and the government and BJP leaders are misleading.
Tiatrist Anil Pednekar asked: “How can ruling BJP leaders compromise it when corruption is involved? The government should have ordered an inquiry and recovered the public money from the organisations.”
Artiste Michael Gracias said, “Speaker Ramesh Tawadkar should produce proof to the concerned department and stop sensationalising the issue. I being the recipient of the government grants I know the procedure. The Speaker should produce evidence and set the issue to rest.”
Former chairman of Ravindra Bhavan, Margao, Prashant Naik said, “If Tawadkar was confident of his charges then he should have stood by so that the real facts could have come to light. But he backed out from the battlefield.”
Tiatrist Mathias Mascarenhas said that allegations only shows that there are lapses in the sanctioning of government funds to private organisations. It is public money and it has to be accountable since the government is facing financial crunch. There are no funds with the Tiatr Academy of Goa (TAG) to promote schemes. The government should streamline the procedure for such grants.
