Panjim: Tourism Minister Dilip Parulekar has ‘rubbished’ Herald’s report on how the government cleared a contract with financial implications of Rs 10 crore, for the Tourism Master Plan without approval of the Finance department.
Parulekar, speaking to the media in Margao, on Tuesday, said reports published in “a section of the media” with regards to the absence of approvals from the finance department and cabinet in appointing the consultants who are undertaking this major assignment from Goa Tourism were “rubbish”. Herald was the only media and not a ‘section’ of the media which had exposed this story.
Parulekar said that all procedures with regards to appointment of the consultants (KPMG) for preparing the Master Plan have been followed in a transparent manner and all approvals granted with regards to the same.
“No procedures have been boycotted or bypassed in awarding of contracts and projects,” Parulekar said adding further, “A consortium of international consultants have been appointed to prepare Goa Tourism’s Master Plan and Tourism Policy and Programme Management Assistance with all approvals in place. As part of the procedure the cabinet met recently to consent to the appointment.”
The Tourism department has further denied there has been any defiance of standards of vigilance and anti-graft measures in the appointment of the internationally acclaimed agency and has reiterated that the agency is preparing the Master Plan and Policy through tedious and elaborate research.
