Goa CM Manohar Parrikar: Alemao supported fake degrees racket

Panaji: Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar Wednesday accused former PWD minister Churchill Alemao of patronising a fake degree racket, recently busted by police, saying the illegalities eroded the sanctity of the department.

“Alemao, during his tenure as PWD minister, was directing various candidates to this academy (which operated the racket), giving fake certificates before recruiting them as engineers in PWD department”, Parrikar said in his reply to a question on affairs of PWD Department in Legislative Assembly. The crime branch recently exposed the racket after raiding a private academy in Margao.

According to police, the racketeers used to provide bogus educational certificates, purportedly of various recognised universities, including the Board of Secondary Education, Gwalior.

“The bogus certificates were bought from this academy by candidates who have now become engineers”, Parrikar said, adding that the illegalities committed by Alemao has eroded the sanctity of PWD department. Alemao, a senior Congress leader was PWD minister in Digambar Kamat-led government.

SOURCE: PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Goa Congress slams BJP for paying sacked miners

Panaji : The Goa Congress lashed out at the Manohar Parrikar-led government Tuesday for paying mining firm employees who had been sacked after the ban on mining in the state.

Leader of opposition in the state assembly Pratapsing Rane said that instead of doling out money, the government should ask the mining companies to re-hire the workers they have sacked.

“How long is the government going to give them money? These are employees of private organisations. Today it is the mining companies, tomorrow it will be some other private companies,” Rane told the assembly during a discussion on the motion of thanks to the Goa governor’s speech.

“We can take an assurance from the companies that they (employees) should be taken back at the same post they had,” Rane said.

Goa’s Governor B.V. Wanchoo in his speech Monday had announced that the state government was working out a financial package for people affected by the mining ban, through which each affected individual would receive about Rs.6,000 per month as dole until the mining impasse was resolved.

Four months ago, the Supreme Court enforced a mining ban in Goa after a judicial commission unearthed a Rs.35,000 crore illegal mining scam being carried out by an unscrupulous nexus comprising politicians, bureaucrats and mining companies.

SOURCE: IANS

 

Mining lobby attacks Goa Governor for ignoring their plight

Panaji: The mining lobby on Wednesday attacked Goa Governor Bharat Veer Wanchoo, calling him an “agent” of the Central government and accusing him of being callous to those affected by the ban on iron ore mining in Goa.

Lobbyists seeking revocation of the ban on iron ore mining in the state spoke to reporters after Wanchoo “snubbed” the pro-mining lobby protesters who have been camping near the Martyrs’ Memorial here for the last two weeks.

On Wednesday morning, the Governor and other leading political dignitaries, including Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, arrived at the memorial in the capital to pay their tributes to Goa’s freedom fighters. However, the Governor returned to Raj Bhavan without speaking to protesters at the site.

“He did not have the courtesy to address us. We have been protesting here for the last two weeks. The Governor is not concerned about the sufferings of the people of his state,” Communist Party of India (CPI) state general secretary Christopher Fonseca told reporters here.

Fonseca heads the Goa Mining Affected People’s Front, which is protesting the loss of jobs caused by the Supreme Court-imposed mining ban. Fonseca also said that the Goa government was not taking convincing steps to resolve the mining crisis in the state.

“It has been four months since the ban has been in place. The government has not given a single convincing argument to the Supreme Court to ensure that the ban is removed,” Fonseca said.

Fonseca’s comments come only a couple of days after the Governor, in his inaugural address to the Goa Legislative Assembly, said that the Manohar Parrikar-led state government was working to introduce a financial package for people living in the mining belt, who had lost employment due to the mining ban.

The package involves giving out monthly dole to the tune of Rs 6,000 per head to those who have lost their mining jobs. The dole, however, has been criticised by the Opposition, which has said that instead of dishing out money, the state government should crack down on mining companies to ensure that workers are not laid off without any pressing reason.

SOURCE: IANS