Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar in an exclusive interview speaks to Ramnath N Pai Raikar about the present position of his government as well as BJP in the eyes of Goan public. He also shares his views on other issues such as various agitations in the state, deaths on Goan roads, and the opposition parties set to pose challenge to BJP, during the forthcoming state assembly election
Q: It has been four years since the Bharatiya Janata Party government is ruling Goa. It is now generally perceived that the popularity enjoyed by your party in the state in March 2012 has gradually declined over the years. Are you of the opinion that you, as the head of the government, as well as your party needs to analyse this situation, and carry out some introspection?
Introspection is needed at every point of time. I think annually once or twice that needs to be done. We are a cadre-based party and we do it. We do it at least at two to three stages. One, during the meeting of the state core team; secondly, during the meeting of the BJP legislature party; and finally, during the meeting held at the level of the electoral constituencies. It is a fact that during the time of the past assembly election, we were in opposition and large number of issues against the erstwhile government had just reached the boiling point, say like inflation, illegal mining, hike in petrol price, controversies in Regional Plan, land allotment for Special Economic Zones, medium of instruction imbroglio, unemployment problem, etc. The people were not happy with the then government and we, as the alternative political party were benefitted from the resulting anti-incumbency factor. I would say that their negative votes counted more than our soaring popularity. However, over a period of time, during last four years, there is no public despair towards our government. Furthermore, it is seen that any effort undertaken against my government doesn’t stand. You can see that issues like SUMUL dairy, vermin animal, coconut tree, defence expo could not stand against us. And then we have never faced massive scams like those which the erstwhile government did.
Q: It is also seen that the number of agitations in Goa has increased, especially during last one year, right from the medium of instruction agitation to teachers’ agitation to fishermen’s agitation?
This being a year of election, it is but natural and expected that such agitations will take place. However, considering the scenario that existed four years ago, I feel that this is absolutely nothing. For instance, was the recent fishermen’s agitation really necessary, especially as the government had already taken a decision to issue the notification as regards banning fishing with the use of LED lights, which was the demand of the fishing community? Therefore, it is clear that such things are deliberately cooked up, may be due to the political ambitions of a leader, who takes his team for granted. The teachers’ agitation, especially that of para teachers is also hollow as you can see. We have fulfilled the demands of all other teachers, but the demand of the para teachers was unlawful. These teachers, around 500 in number, initially tried to pressurise the government. Subsequently, most of them, who were qualified, sought jobs in private sector and got themselves employed. The remaining 30-40 para teachers, who are not qualified to become teachers, and were employed by government for limited periods of time, are now demanding to be regularised in service. Can a government fulfil such a demand, when we have well-trained teachers in the market ready to be recruited? In fact, if they were trained, I would have definitely created posts for them.
Q: The mining industry, which was expected to increase the revenue to the state exchequer after the commencement of its operations, last year was also marred by agitations. Did the government face financial crunch due to this situation, especially as it had placed its hopes on the earnings from the mining industry?
Certainly! During the period of last four years, there was a serious financial setback, loss of almost Rs 1,200 crore annually, resulting into about Rs 5,000 crore accumulated loss. However, in spite of this not only the government protected the mining-dependent people who lost the jobs, but also supported those who could not pay the bank installments towards their trucks, for about 24 months. And this was done in spite of severe financial crisis. Furthermore, the government also increased the social welfare schemes, during past four years like say Griha Aadhar Scheme, Ladli Laxmi Scheme and so on, which have increased the comfort level of the people. I would say that till now an amount of Rs 400 crore has been disbursed to 40,000 married girls under the Ladli Laxmi Scheme, which is an amount equivalent to that being spent by the government on the third Mandovi bridge. So you can understand how much money we are spending on the social welfare schemes.
I would also make a mention here that the mining operations, which were closed down for long time restarted during my tenure. Although we are yet to see the full-fledged mining operations, I am sure that they would fully commence from next mining season. I would also mention that the sand extraction exercise that was banned in the state was legally started during my tenure by formulating necessary guidelines. The Information Commissioners as well as the state Lokayukta have also been appointed during my tenure. The government will soon be promulgating an Ordinance – the work for which is almost complete – to legalise unauthorised structures, on case-to-case basis, which is actually a big challenge before us.
Q: Although it is a matter of satisfaction that Goa is advancing in terms of its infrastructure including the roads, it is sad to see on an average, one person dying daily on the roads due to vehicular accidents. How do you react to this scenario?
That is very sad, indeed! When the road conditions were improper and not up to the mark, the government was blamed for lack of maintenance of these roads. Now, during last four years, the roads have been widened, they have been largely improved, and in spite of that the number of accidents has not reduced. The major reason for the road accidents is rash driving and violation of traffic rules particularly by the two-wheeler riders. I would say, the two-wheeler riders on many occasions overtake the front vehicles from wrong side and accident occurs. From this year, we are planning to introduce two things in the educational field, one is the traffic awareness and another one is cleanliness. We are implementing it at the school level, but of course, these attempts would not yield fruits immediately. Simultaneously, I have entrusted to my new Director General of Police, this particular task as his principal challenge. I have told him to initiate steps to see that the road accidents are reduced to zero this year. He is holding related meetings, interactions and so on. This is one of the major tasks of the government, I would say. It would not be an exaggeration if I say that the number of youth dying on Goan roads is more than the number of soldiers dying on the Indo-Pak border. This is very, very sad.
Q: The final 6 to 8 months of any government in power generally put it under stress as the attack from the opposition political parties become severe. Are you feeling this stress? And how do you propose to face it?
I don’t feel any stress. In fact, I was under stress during the first 6 months of my tenure as the Chief Minister, when I needed to study, to know, to understand, and get myself acquainted with many new things, as earlier my reach was only up to my four departments. As of now, I don’t find any problem or any stress in that regard. I think the people in opposition are not much averse to the government. However, being an election year, they will have to create one problem or the other before the government. However, I don’t find any seriousness in the opposition. This much I can say, and even the people can realise the same. Political parties like Aam Aadmi Party are trying to make a show over here, but I don’t feel that the people in Goa will consider it seriously. And the way this party is making its presence felt in certain sections of the state, I am sure it would only help the Bharatiya Janata Party to get better results; their areas of functioning not interfering with our area.
Q: Finally, you as the Chief Minister of the state have not only created your own image, but also gone ahead on the path of development taking others along with you. Would your face be projected by the party during its campaign for the forthcoming election to the state legislative assembly?
How can I make such a statement on behalf of the party? I have delivered whatever was possible for me. Now it is for the party to take the further decision.