Goa Government has been in Event management rather than providing Good Governance. The latest revelation is that a whopping Rs 2,61,46,004 ( two crores sixty one lakhs forty six thousand and four rupees) was drained on that Mega Job Fair held on 8th November last year at Taleigao. Of this Rs 2,51,42,260 was paid to Sunlight Media the event management company while Rs 9,27,990 was spent on media advertisements besides expenditure of Rs 75,754 on vehicles hired for the event.
The Labour Commissioner on 18th September proposed that the Job Fair be organised at Taleigao, Margao and Ponda but Labour Minister Babush Monserrate on 22nd September directed that it be held only at Taleigao on 8th November. The Labour Commissioner on 18th October (just twenty days before the event) wrote to the Director of Information & Publicity to submit the name of an agency to conduct the event for 6000 participants. Director of Information on 28th October (just ten days before the event) informed Labour Commissioner that Porvorim based Sunlight Media was lowest bidder having quoted Rs 2,51,42,260 while Vinayak Decorators from Taleigao was second lowest having quoted Rs 2,59,60,000. Interestingly, the item wise bill was submitted by Sunlight Media only on 13th January this year, two months after the event. The event was held without the financial approval and when the file was sent for expenditure sanction only after the event was held, the Finance department made five observations. That the cost appears to be very high, that the estimate was lump sum which cannot be accepted as the department has to make detailed estimates, that expenditure of Rs 3600 on each participant was unreasonably high, items like water proof pandals was not required in that season, that department shall rationalise the cost and restrict it to 1500 per head by eliminating non-essential items. All these observations came only after the event was held.
The Finance department returned the file to the Labour Commissioner citing that the explanation to the queries raised was not satisfactory. Despite all those objections raised, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant Finance Minister on 14th February this year accorded government’s expenditure sanction.
That Job fair was a planned mega scam. We need a white paper on how this astronomical spending benefited the Jobless in the state. Those involved in this scam should be brought to book. Action must be taken against officers for having held the event without the financial approval of the government.
