A RESPONE TO THE COMMISSIONER OF NRI AFFAIRS MR EDUARDO FALEIRO.
The statement dated 6th September issued on behalf of Mr. EduardoFaleiro, Goa’s Commissioner of NRI Affairs was a futile attempt to justify the unjustifiable. Mr. Eduardo Faleiro claims that he traveled business class to London as he was entitled to it. May I remind him that there is a very cleard irective by the Prime Minister to avoid any unnecessary foreign travel and that any essential travel should be only by economy class.We all know that Mr. Faleiro enjoys cabinet status but he knows well that even Chief Minister of Goa travels economy class.
Mr.Commissioner, you cannot be making merry at the public expense. We have paid an extra one lakh rupee for that business class comfort you enjoyed. Mr. Faleiro refers to the 2007 Goan Convention which was held by himat a 5 star hotel at Dona Paula costing the tax year almost 40 lakhs.Yes as a registered delegate at that Convention I did attempt to raise the issue of the Regional plan and illegal mining. Mr. Faleiro summoned the police and asked me to leave which I did after seeking arefund of the delegate fee I had paid. I felt that the convention needed to deliberate the anti-Goa, anti-people and anti-environment Regional Plan. I was of the opinion that the non resident Goans should be concerned about the destruction of the fragile ecosystem in the green belt surrounding our urban areas that was slowly turning into a concrete jungle. It was my concern that the new Regional Plan would open the floodgates of uncontrolled migration from the rest of India and that Goans would literally end up a dying breed. But Mr. Faleiro acted very high-handedly and gagged any further debate. In the clarification issued Mr. Faleiro also refers to my stay in Delhi at his flat. I do not understand the relevance this has to the issue at hand, but I do not deny having spent the night of 8th December 2002, when I had gone to Delhi for a matter before theSupreme Court. The said Government of India flat at New Delhi was assigned to Mr. Eduardo Faleiro as Member of the Rajya Sabha and he kindly consented to allow me use a bed for the night. Is Mr. Faleiro suggesting that I should not speak of his alleged misdeeds just because of the courtesy he extended me?
In March 2006 Mr. Eduardo Faleiro managed to get himself appointed as Goa’s Commissioner for NRI Affairs with cabinet status. Why was there a need to drain the State exchequer with a cabinet status? By virtue of his cabinet status Mr. Faleiro now has 11 staff at his disposal.These include four peons and a driver who work at his residence in Raia. The Government of Goa is also paying the salary of one Mr. Amit Sharma who is Mr. Faleiro’s clerk based at Delhi. Besides the 11 staff that are employed by Mr. Faleiro, the Director of NRI Affairs, Mr.Ulhas Kamat (a post officially yet not ) and his two clerks are also being paid by the State treasury. There is no doubt that Goa needs aNRG (non-resident Goan) cell to act as an interface to resolve the grievances of the NRG’s across the world. A Director with two or three staff is all that is needed. Mr. Faleiro, some action and not more extravagant Goan conventions is the need of the hour. There is no point draining the state exchequer by way of these farcical conventions with no clear agenda and onlymerry making at public cost.
I would like to remind Mr. Faleiro that whether the bill is footed by the State, Central Government or the High Commissions overseas, it all takes a toll on the tax payer. There are many former politicians in Goa who just can’s stop living at the State expense. Mr. Eduardo Faleiro is one of them. The affairs atthe office of the NRI Commissioner lack accountability and transparency. May be the Comptroller and Auditor General of India(CAG) should scrutinize the affairs there over the last five years. I can only sympathise with Goa’s Aam Aadmi. It is an irony that Goa is hosting India’s highest paid Advocate General Mr. Subodh Kantak and has also an NRI Commissioner whose expenses over the last five years has caused the public exchequer way over the roof.
Aires Rodrigues,
T1 - B30, Ribandar Retreat,
Ribandar - Goa - 403006.
Mobile: 9822684372.
