PANAJI: The Bharatiya Janata Party will hold a state level programme to celebrate the 60th birthday of the Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar on July 5, at the Taleigao Community Centre, at 5 p.m. The Chief Minister completes 60 years on July 4, 2016.
The Deputy Chief Minister Francis D’Souza, who is one of the vice-chairmen of the birthday celebration committee, addressing a press conference at the city BJP headquarters on Thursday said that the Union Minister for Road Transport, Highways and Shipping, Nitin Gadkari, the Defence Minister, Manohar Parrikar, the Union Minister of State for AYUSH, Shripad Naik and the desk in-charge of the party for Goa, Purrushottam Rupala are expected to participate in the event.
Speaking further, D’Souza said that Parsekar faced a lot of issues during his ongoing tenure as the Chief Minister, and has successfully resolved them, which is a parameter of judging a good administrator.
“I was annoyed, when the officers of my departments were transferred without consulting me, and the Chief Minister accepted his mistake,” he mentioned, maintaining that the error was soon rectified.
The Deputy Chief Minister also said that on both occasions when Parsekar was the state chief of the BJP, the party came to power in Goa.
The state BJP president, Vinay Tendulkar, who was also present for the briefing said that the inclusion of Subhash Velingkar and Ratnakar Lele in the birthday celebration committee should not come as a surprise since they have nothing personal against Parsekar.
It may be recalled that Velingkar and Lele are the members of the Bharatiya Bhasha Suraksha Manch (BBSM), which has launched an agitation against the government on the Medium of Instruction issue.
Tendulkar also observed that all the BJP MLAs are performing in an excellent way. “Unfortunately, the Calangute MLA, Michael Lobo missed the recent training session held by the party in Mumbai, for Goan legislators,” he retorted.
Later, replying to a question, D’Souza, who also holds the Health portfolio, said that the government would not mind giving more medical procedures to private health clinics and private hospitals under the Deen Dayal Swasthya Seva Yojana (DDSSY), the state health insurance scheme, provided these private health clinics and private hospitals have capacity to handle these medical procedures.
“The government is willing to share everything with the private sector,” he added, stating that United India Insurance Company Ltd, a company selected by the government to run the insurance scheme, would be in charge of empanelment of the private health clinics and private hospitals under the scheme.
Currently, 169 medical procedures out of the total 447 medical procedures covered under the scheme, are open for private health clinics and private hospitals, while the private health sector has been demanding that all 447 medical procedures be given to them.
It was also informed that the department of urban development has cleared a proposal of Rs 96 crore to dispose the garbage heap at the Campal Ground, in the city.
D’Souza also holds the Urban Development portfolio.