PANJIM: After the State’s chief secretary B Vijayan retired at the end of September, the state has had to make do with an acting chief secretary in R K Srivastava for the past month despite it being faced with a host of pressing issues.
Just before Vijayan’s retirement, there were reports that UT Adviser (Chandigargh) K K Sharma had been transferred to Goa and would join as Chief Secretary with sources saying that 1983-batch UT cadre IAS officer’s transfer orders were received from the Ministry of Home Affairs by the end of September.
However, sources say that the powers that be in the State – including the chief minister – were not in favour of the transfer and so the proposal was rejected and Srivastava took over as the acting chief secretary.
Besides the tourism season that has already started, the state is grappling with issues like the mining resumption, infrastructure upgradation, the upcoming exposition of the sacred relics of St Francis Xavier, and the regional plan and its
associated headaches, among others.
On the mining issue, there is an ongoing investigation into the criminal aspect of the allegedly illegal mining that took place in the State, as well as the economic aspect. There is a SIT investigation and the enforcement directorate too is investigating cases like under invoicing of shipments.
On the tourism front the state is planning major infrastructure projects and also planning on looking into the decaying infrastructure on the State’s tourism belt that mainly comprises the coastal belt.
The regional plan is another thorny issue confronting the State and there seems to be no clear solution in sight with the administration adamant that it is following the right path while its opponents are quite upset over the way the whole issue is being handled.
