World Cup jolly ride nipped in the bud after media and social media outburst Parrikar asks MLAs to go at their “own cost” to avoid controversy
Sports Minister Tawadkar drops out completely
Tawadkar suddenly realises that he is needed in Goa, not Brazil, to prepare for the U-17 World Cup two years later
Almost overnight, Avertano feels trip will be “burden” on exchequer
TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: It took 48 hours of relentless media pressure and a virtual cloudburst of adverse reactions on social media for Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar to pull the plug on the Rs 89 lakh jolly ride of six MLAs to Brazil to watch the World Cup.
National television anchors upped the ante as the story reached a crescendo on twitter and Facebook through Thursday till the prime time shows started where one of the junket MLAs, Benjamin Silva cut a very sorry figure trying to mumble his way out of sustained interrogation of what the purpose of the trip was.
With embarrassment building up and that too on the eve of Narendra Modi’s visit to Goa, the Chief Minister reportedly sent word to MLAs to themselves’ to announce that they would travel on their own cost. So almost overnight, Fisheries Minister Avertano Furtado realised that the trip would be a cost to the exchequer and that he along with his fellow jolly boys would now pay to watch the World Cup.
“It was felt that this exposure would enhance the understanding of organising and managing such a large mega event in football. It appears that the venture has been in the focus for the wrong reasons thereby casting unnecessary shadow on the main issue of exposure,” Furtado said in a hand out released to the media.
By late afternoon though, the impact of the decision had a further casualty. Sports Minister Ramesh Tawadkar decided not to go at all.
Tawadkar who was getting ready for his first trip abroad, suddenly realised that he had to prepare for the Under-17 World Cup in Goa, two years later. Incidentally, the official reason cited for the Brazil trip was to study infrastructure and traffic arrangement as a part of the preparations for the U-17 World Cup.
Tawadkar said, “The delegation (of six legislators) met Thursday evening and decided that the trip should be funded by us, instead of government. But after that I decided to withdraw from the trip as my presence is required here,” he said at a press briefing on Friday evening.
But, he said that in future, a similar trip could be planned consisting of ministers and concerned officials.
The other five, please note are still going, with each going to spend around Rs 15 lakh each for this trip. That’s quite a lot of loose change they have? Then why did they want to go on tax payers’ money in the first place.
