Dares govt to give expenditure breakups
TEAM HERALD
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MARGAO: Alleging a scam of Rs 10 crore in the IFFI 2012, Curtorim MLA Reginaldo Lourenco demanded a vigilance probe into all IFFI works and dared the government to declare within the next 24 hours the expenditure incurred on the festival with breakups on cultural programs, venue contracts, lighting, sound, travel and hospitality, volunteers’ payments etc.
He demanded that the chief minister recover an amount of Rs 75 lakh paid to non Goan artists like Vaishali Samant, Hrishikehs Ranade, Sukwinder Singh, Suvarnyug Media and Manoj Joshi Entertainment, while demanding immediate release of all payments to the local artists who had performed in IFFI 2012.
At a media briefing, the Curtorm MLA said the recent directions given to the officials of Entertainment Society of Goa by the Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar to negotiate with the local artists before releasing their payments is nothing but another attempt of harassment to the Goenkars, when the non-Goan artists and contractors have been paid full amount even though their bills are exorbitantly high.
Saying that it is a shame that the ESG has accepted the fact that no advertisements were issued inviting tenders for various works carried out during IFFI 2002, Reginaldo said the government is trying to hide the facts and now trying to cover up the wrong doings by creating false evidence through backdated papers.
He asked the Chief Minister to clarify as to why the government did not properly answer his starred LAQ No 4B which was tabled on January 30, 2013.
“The one line reply to my five questions “the accounts and other matters relating to IFFI 2012 are under finalisation” speaks volumes. This reply itself reveals that the government was finalising even the names of the artists and their groups selected for performances almost after two months since the IFFI concluded.
… Wants answers for not initiating action against Meat Complex chief
MARGAO: Accusing the BJP of adopting different yardsticks in Delhi and Goa, the Congress has demanded to know why the government did not initiate action against the Goa Meat Complex Chairman while filing FIRs against the two doctors for the alleged irregularities.
“In Delhi, the BJP was quick to demand resignations of the two Union Ministers, but in Goa, the BJP government has no plan to initiate action against the Goa Meat Complex Chairman, but made the two doctors scapegoat,” Curtorim MLA Reginaldo Lourenco told newsmen.
He rejected the BJP spokesman allegations that the Congress was out to do politics on the beef shortage in the state, adding “We are not making any politics. We only raised a genuine issue the beef scarcity affected many functions, including village Cross feasts”.
He demanded to know why the Goa Meat Complex Chairman Lyndon Monteiro has now thought it fit to import beef from outside while maintaining silence when beef shortage had indeed hit the common man.
