AUGUSTO RODRIGUES
PANJIM: The Fisheries Minister of Goa Nilkanth Halarnkar, the Fisheries Director Shamila Monteiro, the OSD to the Minister Prathamesh Tulaskar and a team of private fisheries stakeholders enjoyed a five-day trip to different places in Norway from February 26 to March 1 this year (excluding travelling time).
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The trip was initiated, planned and reasoned by one Goa-based fishing baron, Miguel Rodrigues. Rodrigues is a big time fishing entrepreneur and a die-hard backer of LED fishing. He is the owner of Joecons Marine Exports Pvt Ltd and their companies and runs his private jetty, Mobrar Fisheries.
It is pertinent to note that the government jetties on which traditional fishermen depend on, are in a state of complete neglect and in a state of disrepair, with no facilities.
Such is his power and influence, that Rodrigues prevailed upon the Indian Embassy in Norway to invite the Fisheries Minister of Goa to lead a delegation to Norway from late February till early March this year. His son Joyston D Rodrigues was also invited as part of the fishing stakeholders’ group. The trip was officially sanctioned by the Government of Goa after taking clearances from the Union Ministry of External Affairs.
When O Heraldo contacted him, Miguel Rodrigues said, “I asked the Embassy of India in Oslo to invite the Fisheries Department to participate in the India–Norwegian Business Seminar in the city of Kristiansand in Southern Norway on February 29. When I was invited by the Ambassador for the seminar, I told him that it is important to invite a government delegation to make it easy to implement what we discuss.”
He added, “I paid for my trip and my son Joyston, who is also a fisherman. We did not go at the cost of the government. The government was invited because of me.”
O Heraldo, through an RTI request filed by this reporter, has all relevant documents of this trip.
This raises serious questions about the funds being spent for such an exercise, that looks like a paid junket since there is no evidence to prove otherwise. Moreover, it was a trip made possible by a big-time private player in the fishing business in Goa.
Till now, the Goa government has not shared the learnings of the trip or given any indication of its benefits, possibilities of investment or any Expression of Interest.
The high costs of the trip of the Minster, his OSD (with no justification as to why the OSD needed to travel on public money) the Director Fisheries, were paid for by the government of Goa through taxpayers’ money (O Heraldo will report on the details spent on travel, accommodation etc, on the delegation from taxpayer’s money in Part 2 of thisexposé soon)
The Indian Embassy in Oslo Norway wrote to the Fisheries Minister Nilkanth Halarnkar on February 9, 2024, inviting him to the ‘India Norway Business Seminar’ in the city of Kristiansand in Southern Norway on February 29.
Supposedly the objective of the seminar was to explore contacts and meet different business owners to further business and investment from them into Goa
The note stated, “It would be a good opportunity if you (Fisheries Minister Nilkanth Halarnkar) could lead a delegation of officials/ entrepreneurs who can benefit from this interaction”.
The letter from the Indian Ambassador, sitting in Oslo, actually named who the members of the Goa delegation.
The names, apart from the minister, were those of Shamila Monteiro, Director of Fisheries; Shri Prathamesh Tulaskar, OSD to Fisheries Minister; Miguel Jose Rodrigues, Fisherman stakeholder of Goa; Joao Martinho Fernandes; Antonio Rodrigues; Patrick Socorro Dsilva and Joyston D Rodrigues, son of Miguel.
It is likely that the Indian Embassy in Norway was given these names by Miguel Rodrigues for this high-end super luxury trip that cost lakhs and lakhs.
This is at a time when Ramponkars have not got their fishing subsidies and many of them struggle to find funds to mend their fishing nets and repair their boats.
“We have not been disbursed our subsidy due to shortage of funds and the government can spend in lakhs for a trip that will bring no benefit to us ramponkars,” says Patrocino, a traditional fisherman as he and his men winch their canoe to shore.
