Terms state government action against officials as ‘eyewash’
Panaji: Opposition members on Monday demanded that “political responsibility” be fixed in the Birch by Romeo Lane fire tragedy at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives, alleging that action taken against government officials was merely an “eyewash.”
Opposition MLAs alleged that the former sarpanch and secretary of the Arpora–Nagoa panchayat had been made scapegoats.
The Opposition members were marshalled out of the House after raising the issue during the customary Governor’s address in the Assembly and walking into the well of the House.
“The fire tragedy which killed 25 innocent people is a black day in Goa’s history. We were demanding that the Governor should speak on the tragedy and observe one minute of silence while paying homage to the 25 people who lost their lives,” Opposition Leader Yuri Alemao said while addressing the media in the Assembly complex.
“This government has blood on its hands. Government has to fix the political responsibility… who is politically responsible for these 25 deaths,” he further said.
Alemao alleged that certain officials had been made scapegoats. “But what were the environment, panchayat and home ministries doing? What is the guarantee that such a tragedy won’t reoccur,” he said, adding, “Don’t you feel that the Chief Minister, the Home Minister, the Panchayat Minister should own the responsibility and resign? This government has no moral authority to continue in power.”
“Goa today is in crisis, Goa is burning in the form of financial crisis, crimes etc, and the Governor seems to be reading the script given by this government. Enough is enough. This government has failed in governance. There is no administration. In the coming days we will expose the government,” Alemao said.
Highlighting that the Birch restaurant was set up on khazan land, Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai said, “We have information that it was in a salt pan. Along the Baga river, as per records, there should have been 8 lakh sqm khazan land. But only 2.07 lakh sqm is shown as khazan land. Because of this, the restaurant was set up in a salt pan and the fire tragedy resulted in the deaths of 25 persons.”
Calling for fixing responsibility, St Andre MLA Viresh Borkar said that the ministers concerned should have resigned on moral grounds. “Officers have been suspended, but their services will be restored. Who is responsible for this tragedy? Whether the ministers concerned were not aware about the permissions that were granted to the club? When such things happen, the minister concerned should have taken the responsibility,” Borkar said.
He also demanded that the magisterial inquiry report be made public. “Why haven’t you made public the report of the magisterial inquiry?” Borkar said.
