PANJIM: Life was indeed a party for some members of the previous government. Information received by Herald in response to an RTI application filed by this reporter, revealed some “interesting” parties thrown by some ministers. While expenses incurred by the Chief Minister and some others on legitimate official dinners are self evident, it is clear that some ministers, including arguably the most underperforming minister of the previous government, worked hard to ‘entertain’ at the State’s expense.
Take former Agriculture Minister Ramesh Tawadkar, from Canacona for instance. On November 27 2014, the Honourable minister decided to invite 100 ‘farmers’ attending a “debriefing workshop and launch event of project on orchid cultivation”, for dinner. The venue chosen for the lucky 100 was the lavish and arguably one of the most expensive five star deluxe properties in Goa, on the beach in Canacona. And the bill for the lunch paid for by the State (which effectively means public money) was a cool Rs 1,10,000.
But Ramesh Tawadkar’s one off show of largesse, on State expense, pales into insignificance, in front of the absolutely brazen manner in which former Power Minister Milind Naik has hosted dinner parties at a hotel in Vasco. Before we process, here’s food for thought. Of the Rs 62 lakh spent by the government on dinners and luncheons by ministers and some secretaries, almost one third (Rs 18.30 lakh approx) was spent by Milind Naik on dinners and luncheons hosted in one hotel alone. And what is more, every bill is over a lakh, with three bills having an identical amount of Rs 1,22,499. Now that takes some ingenuity, to notch up a bill identical to the last paisa on three occasions.
But it gets even more bizarre. The official purpose for these lunches and dinners is not mentioned in any of the 19 times he invited between 80 and 100 people for dinner. Every other minister has provided “reasons” for hosting these parties
In fact, curiously, his guest list almost always had 92, 95 or 98 invitees with the list touching the century mark on two occasions and going below 90 only once. Who were these invitees eating at State expense? What was the purpose of these parties? Did this go towards some collateral benefit to the State in some way, or at the very least were these genuine hospitality requirements? We have no answers.
Naik is second only to then Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar, who understandably spent around Rs 22 lakh, which included dinners/lunch for IFFI delegations and visiting diplomats, ministers and Chief Ministers of other States. Naik’s 19 dinners were actually more than the CM’s who hosted 11.
Other ministers who were gracious hosts, during times of financial hardship, included Avertano Furtado (Rs 2,78,134), Dilip Parulekar (Rs 3,91,782) and Dayanand Mandrekar (Rs 3,20,038). Furtado invited a group participating in the ‘Know Goa” programme on three occasions , intended for students and young professionals in the age group of 18 to 28 years who have shown an interest in Goa and in India. Interestingly even Francis D Souza hosted three dinners and Dilip Parulekar too hosted three lunches for participants of the Know Goa programme. Parulekar took care of the lunches at hotels in Panjim and Porvorim while Furtado hosted the dinners for the same group in a prominent hotel in Margao.
Dilip Parulekar, unlike Milind Naik, did disclose reasons why he hosted lunches and dinners, but the purpose of these parties were rather interesting.
a) Participants attending various schemes of Women and Child Development for 90 people
b) Dinner for participants attending meeting on schemes ‘attached’ to Women and Child Development – 90 people
c) Dinner for “Muslim community” from coastal belt engaged in the tourism trade – 50 people
Now these expenses need to be put into context. In November 2014, the after effects of mining closure were being felt all over the State. There was no money in the treasury and borrowings and interest on previous borrowings were not coming down. Austerity was the order of the day and not lavishness. The expense list of the mantris show that barring official State expenditure on visiting dignitaries, bills ranging from 30,000 to over a lakh, for purposes whose benefit to the State, is not at all obvious.
It is not about the amount of money spent but whether these lunches and dinners were needed and if so, could the numbers have been reduced and more importantly, could they have been held in simpler places, like GTDC run hotels, with lesser rates.
