Naphtha ignites sparks in Mormugao’s volatile politics

DHIRAJ HARMALKAR

dhiraj@herald-goa.com

VASCO: The Nu-Shi Nalini saga has taken a political twist over the storage of the naphtha at the Ganesh Benzoplast facility at Bogda. A Minister and his supporters opposed this, but now another Minister and others have raised questions over the opposition.

Nu-Shi Nalini was refloated and berthed at MPT and the naphtha from the vessel was being pumped to Ganesh Benzoplast containers at Bogda. This was opposed by Urban Development Minister Milind Naik who voiced concerns of people’s safety. 

But his ministerial and party colleague, Transport Minister Mauvin Godinho questioned why the ‘issue’ has been raised when the Chief Minister has decided on the matter in the interest of the people. 

“I am of the opinion that utmost care and safety of the highest standard needs to be maintained for storing cargo inside containers. The cargo will be stored in containers and after auctioning, it will be taken to its ultimate destination. I fail to understand the opposition to this,” Godinho said.

In a veiled attack on Naik, he said, “Politicians politicise anything and everything. There is still time for election and we are in the mid-term.”

Godinho’s views were echoed by Congress leader Sankalp Amonkar. “It clearly looks like ‘all is not well’ in the BJP. Chief Minister says naphtha will be stored in GBL containers as per High Court order and the next day Naik and supporters protest storing naphtha at Bogda and stop the pumping of naphtha on Friday,” Amonkar said.

He added, “Naik’s allegation that Chief Secretary Parimal Rai does not receive his calls, clearly shows that there is a clash of interests and there is no proper coordination between the State BJP ministers.”

He said the protest by Naik is eyewash. “When the vessel was grounded, Naik was silent and now all of a sudden he is opposing pumping of naphtha. I dare Milind Naik to resign on moral grounds or Chief Minister should drop Naik from the Cabinet,” Amonkar said.

The debate also brought in Nationalist Congress Party, Goa president Jose Philip D’Souza. “People are protesting storing of naphtha. First there should be a thorough inquiry against those involved in bringing this sick unmanned vessel with volatile cargo to MPT.”

D’Souza said that Naik should have instead demanded an inquiry as to who was involved in bringing the vessel to MPT. “This is important but nobody is raising this issue,” the former Minister said.

Naik, on his part, said he is concerned about people’s safety and that during the initial meetings with MPT officials he was not taken into confidence and that Sawant had attended all the meetings. “If I had been called then and asked, I could have given some good solutions,” he said.