Tweet
An infuriated Opposition staged a walkout from the Goa Legislative Assembly on Friday after Speaker Pratapsingh Rane refused to table the Public Accounts Committee’s (PAC) report. The move came as a huge relief to the Congress Government, whose members are allegedly involved in the mining scam that the PAC report has spoken about.
The report is now unlikely to officially make it to the public domain anytime soon or even within the term of this Government.
The report is said to list in detail the irregularities and how they were carried out, and pulls up the mines department for not acting despite knowing the scam. The mines department has been headed by current Chief Minister Digambar Kamat for the last 12 years.
“You do not want to table the report. We are walking out because we do not want to be a part of any illegality,” said Goa’s Leader of the Opposition Manohar Parrikar, before leading the walkout.
Speaking during the Assembly proceeding through raising of a point of order on Friday, Parrikar said it was not within the powers of the Speaker to hold back a PAC report, which was submitted by him on Wednesday.
However, to that Rane retorted, “It is my duty to scrutinise the report. If it is not proper, according to the rules, such reports cannot be laid. They should be programmed. I have to go through the report”.
Later, speaking to reporters, Parrikar accused the Speaker of acting in collaboration with the Government. “The Speaker is in league with the Government. I have no hesitation in saying that he (Speaker) is trying to protect someone”, Parrikar said.
The Public Accounts Committee report reportedly has questioned several State Government agencies, including the department of mines, the Pollution Control Board, the forest department and the police, besides Central Government agencies like the Ministry of Environment and Forests, the Indian Bureau of Mines and the Director General of Mines Safety with knowingly allowing illegalities to continue.
“Does the Chief Minister not want to change the situation in the Mines Department at all? Does he not want to punish anyone guilty? Any third person would take inference that he (Kamat) is involved,” Parrikar said, adding that nearly “seventy-five per cent of the Congress legislators were involved in illegal mining.”
Speaking in the House on Wednesday, soon after submitting the Public Accounts Committee report, Parrikar had obliquely laid the mantle of the illegal mining scam on Kamat’s head.
The report is now unlikely to officially make it to the public domain anytime soon or even within the term of this Government.
The report is said to list in detail the irregularities and how they were carried out, and pulls up the mines department for not acting despite knowing the scam. The mines department has been headed by current Chief Minister Digambar Kamat for the last 12 years.
“You do not want to table the report. We are walking out because we do not want to be a part of any illegality,” said Goa’s Leader of the Opposition Manohar Parrikar, before leading the walkout.
Speaking during the Assembly proceeding through raising of a point of order on Friday, Parrikar said it was not within the powers of the Speaker to hold back a PAC report, which was submitted by him on Wednesday.
However, to that Rane retorted, “It is my duty to scrutinise the report. If it is not proper, according to the rules, such reports cannot be laid. They should be programmed. I have to go through the report”.
Later, speaking to reporters, Parrikar accused the Speaker of acting in collaboration with the Government. “The Speaker is in league with the Government. I have no hesitation in saying that he (Speaker) is trying to protect someone”, Parrikar said.
The Public Accounts Committee report reportedly has questioned several State Government agencies, including the department of mines, the Pollution Control Board, the forest department and the police, besides Central Government agencies like the Ministry of Environment and Forests, the Indian Bureau of Mines and the Director General of Mines Safety with knowingly allowing illegalities to continue.
“Does the Chief Minister not want to change the situation in the Mines Department at all? Does he not want to punish anyone guilty? Any third person would take inference that he (Kamat) is involved,” Parrikar said, adding that nearly “seventy-five per cent of the Congress legislators were involved in illegal mining.”
Speaking in the House on Wednesday, soon after submitting the Public Accounts Committee report, Parrikar had obliquely laid the mantle of the illegal mining scam on Kamat’s head.
