Supporting 5 get imp. portfolios
Sandesh Prabhudesai
4 June 2002
The five ministers supporting the newly
installed Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition government
in Goa have been allocated most influential portfolios by
chief minister Manohar Parrikar.
All the 12 ministers - sworn in yesterday
- were allocated one portfolio each by Parrikar today, after
holding the first informal cabinet meeting and consulting
them over the allocation.
The Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party's Sudin
Dhawalikar will be the PWD minister while Pandurang Madkaikar
will hold the transport. Similarly, United Goans Democratic
Party's Mickky Pacheco is the tourism minister and Atansio
Monseratte is being given the town and country planning.
Philip Neri Rodrigues, an independent and
former tourism minister, has been allocated water resources
ministry, which includes equally important irrigation department.
Parrikar's erstwhile senior ministers Digambar
Kamat, Dr Suresh Amonkar and Manohar Azgaonkar will continue
to hold power, health and panchayati raj respectively. However
Ramarao Desai, another former BJP minister, will now hold
industries.
Among the new, Francis D'Souza has been
made the information technology minister whereas Vinay Tendulkar
and Dayanand Mandrekar will hold ministries of forest and
agriculture respectively.
Rest of the portfolios are expected to
be allocated after the brief Assembly session.
The chief minister has also recommended
to the governor to convene the three-day Assembly session
on 12 June. It will begin with giving oath to all the 40
newly elected legislators as well as to elect the new speaker
of the House.
While Governor Mohammed Fazal will address
the House on 13 June, Parrikar plans to present a full-fledged
budget on 14 June and subsequently take vote on account
till August, as the financial transactions will otherwise
come to a halt from 15 June.
Since the last Assembly was dissolved on
27 February without presenting the budget, the then BJP
government had drawn funds from the contingency fund for
the period of three months, pending elections of the new
Assembly.
Parrikar also plans to propose unanimous
elections of the speaker and the deputy speaker by offering
the deputy's post to the opposition. "I will talk to opposition
leader Pratapsing Rane in this regard", he told the journalists.
Regarding allocation of important portfolios
to the newly entered inexperienced legislators, Parrikar
said no minister demanded any specific portfolio, but their
suggestions were taken into consideration.
"Though my cabinet has seven new faces,
I am confident that they are capable of handling it", he
said. Among the seven, three belonging to the MGP and the
UGDP have even become the MLAs for the first time, except
Dhawalikar.
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