PANJIM: Exactly a month after holding a cabinet meeting on October 31, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Saturday held a series of meetings with BJP MLAs and bureaucrats to oversee the functioning of party as well as of the government.
The CM, who is recuperating from pancreatic cancer, met State BJP president Vinay Tendulkar and nine BJP MLAs at his Dona Paula residence.
Deputy Speaker Michael Lobo, Mapusa MLA Francis D’Souza who is also recuperating at Mapusa after returning from US, Aldona MLA Glenn Ticlo and Health Minister Vishwajit Rane did not attend the meeting. Reportedly, Ticlo and Vishwajit are out of station on pre-planned personal visits.
As per the MLAs, the focus of the meeting was on mining, employment and smooth functioning of administration.
Tendulkar said that the mining matter was discussed and that the “CM will speak to the PM on the issue”.
Panchayat Minister Mauvin Godinho said the CM’s health has improved considerably. “CM’s health has improved significantly. He asked MLAs about their problems individually. It was a lively discussion,” Godinho said. He added that the leaders met the CM collectively after a long time. “We decided to meet CM individually in future,” he said.
Asked about the issues discussed, Godinho said, the issue of employment was discussed and deliberated upon. “Job recruitment is on the cards and besides we asked the CM to seek BJP high command’s intervention in the mining problem,” he said.
He added, “We told the Chief Minister to prevail upon BJP high command to initiate the process to start mining in the State.” Godinho further said that the raise in honorarium to panchayat members will come up at the next cabinet meet.
