Goa's junket truth: It's all 'tiger prawns' and the 'wow' moment for legislators

Panaji: Notes on a grand scrumptious continental lunch, tiger prawns served as starters and elaborate VIP courtesies extended by the hosts, account for a large chunk of a report compiled by Goa’s ‘junket’ lawmakers filed after returning from a junket to a motocross event in the United Kingdom two years ago. The report then filed by the team of MLAs led by fisheries minister Avertano Furtado which Firstpost had managed to access is relevant, because of the recent national outrage over Rs 13.24 crore spent by the BJP-led coalition government on foreign junkets since 2012. Earlier, similar outrage had forced the Goa government to pull back funding from a World Cup junket to Brazil proposed by six lawmakers, including two ministers, on the eve of the mega sporting event and subject all future junkets to strict feasibility regimen. Furtado and two other members who were on their way to Brazil, were also part of the UK junket.[caption id=“attachment_1706451” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Junket menu. AFP[/caption] The decision to pull back the funding was wise considering the energies expended by Furtado, BJP MLA from Aldona, Glen Ticlo and Independent MLA from Velim, Benjamin Silva while scripting their delight at seeing the large, seductively curled tiger prawns on a VIP lunch platter during in Winchester, UK, where they had gone to witness FIM Motocross Championship. “Of course we had a dish specially prepared for the Goa delegation and you bet we felt like at home. The dish was none other than our famous tiger prawn for starters,” the report says. The lawmakers have justified the inclusion of the tiger prawns in their report, in order to “emphasise on the fact that the VIP arrangements for the Goa delegation done by Youth Stream/FIM co-ordinated by our very own Ashley Gomes, was so perfect and so professionally presented”. Gomes heads the Goa motor sports association. The ’tiger prawn starters’ on the platter, according to the report, was symbolic not just of “the perfectly arranged guided study tour of the venue and its infrastructure, but every single bit of our time spent at the race track was perfectly looked into and so well co-ordinated by Youth Stream”. In further eulogies to the food served on the nine day tour (17-25 August), the report says: “After having wonderful continental lunch, specially prepared for VIPs that visit thee races from several different countries, just like us, we were told that the organisers namely ‘Youth Stream’ have taken the responsibility to ensure that the food is liked by all VIP guest(s) who come from different countries with different cultures.” The report also admits that it took an actual visit to UK and meeting the organisers in the VIP area, that they realized how big FIM Motocross World Championship event really was. “This sport really has a huge fan following in England. After having our discussion with the organisers over a well presented VIP lunch, in the VIP area, we came to know that this sport has thousands of fans across Europe, USA, Russia, Asia is the fast growing in the world’s greatest democracy namely India…” Aside from making generic points about the event and the need for a similar motor racing event in Goa, the MLAs mention how they were literally ‘wowed’ by the grandness of the British Grand Prix. “The number of spectators for this race was around 64,000, that’s quite a number and the first impression we got was, ‘wow’!” the report says. “With this sport having the potential to convert Goa from a stagnant beach tourism oriented destination, into an adventure sports destination, thus attracting high-end tourists…,” the report advocates. Interestingly, the state authorities were unable to convince the organisers to even host one leg of the FIM Motocross World Championship in Goa in the subsequent years. The report was also effusive in its praise for Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar for his “vision and foresight” in numerous references, while also calling him a “thorough professional in his political field”.