PANJM: India may not play the World Cup for centuries, but five football loving Goan MLAs will certainly reach Brazil for the quarter-finals of this World Cup. And at Rio and Sao Paolo, it will be all play, and no work for our jolly boys. (Related report & photos on Page 3)
At the same time, there was only one MLA who placed his reputation over the carnival and revelry of Brazil and opted out at the last moment – Calangue MLA Michael Lobo. Speaking to the Herald he said, “I had made it clear to my colleagues that I needed a bill and would pay for the trip since it was a personal one. After today’s report in the Herald, I realised that this was big controversy in the making and I didn’t want to drag myself into it, even though I was paying for it.”
The government today launched an absolute information blockade on the Brazil jaunt of their six MLAs. There was a freeze on every question Herald asked in its story of Monday, the most important being who has paid for the six tickets booked through Avesta Tours and Travels, Marine Drive Bombay, issued on June 17, on the same booking reference number.
Meanwhile, at the Sports Authority of Goa the discussion centered around how such detailed “information” was leaked, quite forgetting that in an online world sourcing details of such movements isn’t rocket science. The Government’s body language of going into a complete shell rather than confronting the media with counter facts, has made the Brazil affair rather murky. The Executive Director of the Sports Authority of Goa, Sandeep Jaques was closeted with senior officials and avoided the media throughout the day. And Sports Minister Ramesh Tawadkar, played the lead in enforcing the code of silence on why the hand of government was very much on this Rs 89 lakh “tour” of six MLAs even after the Government cancelled it. Fisheries Minister Avertano Furtado has told Herald on Monday that they had received a letter from the Sports Authority of Goa asking them to refund the cost of travel to them after their return.
Meanwhile, it is learnt that Avesta Tours and Travels, in response to queries of a leading national TV channel which was following Herald story mentioned that the payment for the tickets were paid through RTGS in full, but not by the Goa government.
This information was completely contrary to what Furtado told Herald. If SAG had cleared all payments as per the earlier official “status” of the tour, why did the travel company indicate otherwise to a national TV channel. Herald called the company on two occasions and when told the call was from Goa, Avesta Tours and Travels, promised to call back on both occasions but did not.
Meanwhile, a very senior BJP functionary in the know, said that the visa application process had commenced three to four weeks ago and the applications were moved by the government through the Sports authority. Since the trip was initially at government’s cost and government representatives were travelling, the visa costs were waived off. However since the visas were issued, the MLAs who are now only tourists will travel on the same government sponsored or backed visa.
For now, the boys have flown, certainly not as paying tourists – at least not yet – but as beneficiaries of either government largesse or its private variety.
