Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar will present his third successive State budget of this term in the State Legislative Assembly on Wednesday.
The State budget of 2014-15 is considered a big challenge to Mr. Parrikar who holds the finance portfolio, as it is being tabled ahead of upcoming Parliamentary elections amid a financial crisis over the continuing mining ban.
A five-day budget session of the Goa State Legislative Assembly will begin here on Monday with the customary Governor’s address.
While the Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) government may use the short session to sneak in a casino policy to regulate casinos through a Gaming Commission and rules that allow for transfer of casino licences, the Congress has announced its plans to oppose transfer of such licences.
Over the last four months, since the last session, a number of BJP Ministers and MLAs have come under fire including Speaker Rajendra Arlekar, who is being currently probed by the Anti Corruption branch of the state Vigilance Bureau. The High Court has quashed and set aside Tourism Minister Dilip Parulekar's regularisation of prime land in Serula Communidade at Porvorim in north Goa.
Sports Minister Ramesh Tawadkar, MLA of Canacona, would have a lot to answer for in connection with the Canacona building collapse which claimed 31 lives.
The government is expected to come under attack from BJP's rebellious MLA Vishnu Wagh, who is, ironically, considered to be the frontrunner for Congress parliamentary election ticket in north Goa. Mr. Wagh has been recently divested of his posts, as chairman and vice-chairman of two semi-government bodies, by the Chief Minister, after his sustained public attack on party leadership over various issues including its decision to allow grants to diocesan English medium primary schools.
The Congress party spokesperson Reginaldo Laurenco on Sunday told The Hindu that the session would definitely be stormy as his party will raise the issue of the Speaker's on-going court case, pertaining to disproportionate assets, and request him to refrain from presiding till the outcome of the case is decided. The party also plans to raise issues including the mining ban and the plight of mining dependents, casino licences, medium of instruction at primary school level, recent agitation of taxi-owners opposing Ola cabs, and escalating crime levels in Goa, Mr. Laurenco said.
