July 1, 2005. To: The Administrator, Goanet. via e-mail
Sir, Kindly publish the following Press Statement issued by the party and oblige. Thanking you, Yours Sincerely, for Goa Su Raj Party. Sd/- Floriano C. Lobo Gen. Sec/Spokesperson. ** PRESS STATEMENT The Goa Su-Raj Party is not surprised at the sacking of the Director of Tourism Mr. Elvis Gomes for his alleged complicity in misleading the Governor of Goa on the removal of the River Princess. When the five member delegation of the party handed over to the Governor, on March 28, 2005, a lengthy memorandum, one of the items in the memorandum was the removal of the River Princess which read as under: D. River Princess: An investigation is to be ordered into the role of the erstwhile Manohar Parrikar Government in the delay involved in the removal of the River Princess and the belated award of the tender for its removal to Crosschem Pvt. Ltd. All efforts to be made to remove this curse which has affected tourism and the local population of Candolim and Calangute. Investigation is also to be instituted into the disappearance of the machinery of the River Princess and culpability ascribed. The bold assurance that the Governor had given to the members of the delegation, was, in his own words: "Heads will roll". We believe that in Elvis Gomes' sacking, unfortunately only one head has rolled. But the question which persists is "was the sacking justified?" If it was, then the Governor would not have served the notice to Mr. Elvis Gomes at 8.00 p.m in the night through the police which happened to be the eve of the counting of votes in the bye-elections of June 2, 2005. This smacks of the Governor washing his hands off the case with Mr. Elvis Gomes as the 'scapegoat'. The Goa Su-Raj Party strongly believes that the Governor of Goa, by this singular action, is not leading Goans to believe that he was working in the best interest of Goa and of Goans. Goans have had wool pulled over their eyes all too often, now to believe that one person was solely responsible for the sabotage that has taken place. The Governor will do better to prevail on the 'Rane government' to immediately institute a time bound inquiry to identify the person/s in the government responsible for : (a) giving the contract to Crosschem Pvt. Ltd. (b) who was in charge of liaising with the company after it was awarded the contract. (c) whose responsibility it was to do the follow-up on the performance of the said company and duly file progress reports and (d) what action is proposed to be taken against the company and those in the government responsible for this fiasco. If the government of Goa is not inclined, for its own reasons, to follow the process suggested by this party, then we hereby demand that the ex-director of Tourism Mr. Elvis Gomes be re-instated forthwith, or, in the alternative, the government should come out with the necessary material and put the same before the public of Goa in order to justify the action of the Governor in suspending Mr. Elvis Gomes alone. Let the elector be the best judge of the actions of the government. End.
