Panaji:While Goa ministers have begun series of meetings to access the facilities to cater to the outbreak, opposition MLAs have rued that they are not taken into confidence during the exercise.
State chief minister Pramod Sawant has designated each of the minister respective taluka to meet the local officials and get a ground report about the facilities created to treat COVID-19 positive patients.
“Ministers allotted talukas are meetng officials and ruling MLAs to discuss #COVID19Outbreak sans Opp MLAs, in the backdrop of growing number of positive cases in Goa and insufficient health infrastructure. Did these meetings discuss the mysterious Plan B that @visrane referred to,” Sardesai tweeted on Tuesday evening.
Sardesai was referring to the meeting chaired by Deputy Chief Minister Chandrakant Kavlekar in South Goa Collectorate building, which is part of his (Sardesai’s) assembly constituency.
Another opposition MLA Rohan Khaunte said that BJP government by-passing elected MLAs to further its own agenda during a pandemic is a new low even by BJP Goa’s standards.
Khaunte tweeted “BJP government by-passing elected MLAs to further its own agenda during a pandemic is a new low even by BJP Goa’s standards. Holding private meetings with only BJP MLAs for “awareness drive” in constituencies where they have no MLAs is clearly unethical to overtake in a chain of line.”
“Instead, if they genuinely wanted to spread awareness and extend help to Goenkars (Goans), they should have allocated responsibilities to local MLAs.. Only that wouldn’t get BJP Goa any political brownies,” he added.
Responding to the allegations, Kavlekar said that the meetings were held to understand the ground level situation with the officers.
“There was no need to call local MLAs as Chief minister has been meeting them and they are taken into confidence,” he said.
Kavlekar said that the meetings had the officers to the rank of Collector, Superintendent of police and others who are involved in the work of fighting back COVID-19.
