Goa: After furore, World Cup junket to be funded by MLAs or corporates

All six MLAs, caught in a controversy over using state funds to sponsor a junket to Brazil, have decided to fund their own travel to the country, where they are expected to study traffic management at the 2014 World Cup. [caption id=“attachment_1569019” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Goa Fisheries Minister Avertano Furtado.[/caption] “All six of us have met and we have decided to go to Brazil at our own expense. We don’t want to use state funds for this trip,” Fisheries Minister Avertano Furtado said. However the latest reports coming in have quoted Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar as saying that the trip would now be sponsored by ‘corporates’. The benevolent companies were however, not named. The state government had decided to send six MLAs, three of whom are ministers, on a 10-day trip to Brazil to watch the football World Cup at a cost of Rs 89 lakh, a decision that kicked up a storm. The opposition Congress called the trip a “wasteful expenditure” and sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s intervention to “stop the junket”. Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar however justified the “study tour” saying it would help in Goa’s preparations for the Under-17 FIFA World Cup in 2017 since the tourist state could be one of the venues. “They have been asked to go, not that they wanted to go themselves. Of course they were happy to go,” he said. Three ministers - Ramesh Tawadkar (Sports), Avertano Furtado (Fisheries), Milind Naik (Power)- and MLAs Carlose Almeida, Glen Ticlo (both BJP) and Benjamin Silva (Independent) constitute the six officials under the scanner. The state’s sports department has sanctioned Rs 89 lakh for the trip, a senior officer said. Congress has come down heavily on the government calling the trip as a “loot” of the state exchequer. “Goa government has been on a spree to loot the public exchequer. When state is reeling under financial crisis, what is the need for such a junket?” Goa Congress spokesman Durgadas Kamat alleged. He said the Congress has written to the prime minister seeking his intervention to check “misuse of funds.” “While state has been facing financial crunch due to stoppage of mining, the state government is involved such a wasteful expenditure. We would like you to intervene in the matter and stop this junket,” said Kamat, quoting the letter by Goa Pradesh Congress Committee. Also, Kamat said that it is surprising that no government officer or any sportsman is accompanying this “all exclusive delegation of politicians.” He said the state has soccer experts like Brahmanand Shakhwalkar and Bruno Coutinho, who have played for the country, and could have been sent to see the matches. “Their experience could have been used for furthering the game in the state,” Kamat said. With PTI inputs