Digambar Kamat: Rajnath Singh must clarify how will ‘part time’ Governor handle Covid situation in Goa

Panaji, Apr 28 (UNI) Leader of Opposition Digambar Kamat on Wednesday said that Defence Minister Rajnath Singh must clarify how will a ‘part time’ Governor handle Covid situation in Goa.
Reacting to the reports of Union Defence Minister’s meeting with Governors and Lt Governors urging them to take help of ex- servicemen, nurses, lab technicians and retired army personnel to deal with the Covid crisis, Mr Kamat said he was happy that the Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had finally realised the need to take Army onboard to handle the deteriorating Covid situation in the country.
”We have a part time Governor in Goa who is sharing responsibility of our neighbouring state Maharashtra which is facing acute Covid crisis. How can he give justice to Goa, when the local government appears clueless and directionless in handling the crisis. It is unfortunate that the Prime Minister’s Office ignored my suggestion to make a task force of experts from civil society and Army. I had urged the Prime Minister on the same on 23rd March 2020. The Central Government did not act on it for almost a year now,” Mr Kamat said.
”Today, no one knows what is happening in the state. Ministers are making annoucements contradicting the Chief Minister. Officials appear clueless. Now, local Panchayats are independantly declaring containment zones. Are we heading towards anarchy,” the Margao MLA questioned.
Alleging that the local BJP Government was not paying any attention to the constructive suggestions of the opposition in handling the Covid pandemic, he said, ”There is no scope for us to escalate the matter to the Governor as he is not available full time in Goa. Goa is missing the pro-active former Governor Satya Pal Malik who dared to call spade a spade and always protected the interest of Goa and welfare of Goans.”
”Former Governor Satya Pal Malik went all out of his way on issues like Mhadei, Lockdown at Mangor Hill, Supply of Essential Commodities during nationwide lockdown. He was candid enough to express his views on Farmers Protests recently. Unfortunately, he was transferred as his remaining in office would have created more embarrassments to the BJP Government,” Mr Kamat said.
He urged the Defence Minister to impress upon the Prime Minister and appoint a full time Governor who will give justice to the people.
UNI AKM 1724