Loaded Dice
Its election time again, and therefore it is issue time also; more appropriately casino issue time. There is the archetypical twist in the tale as well. It’s in the gamble Manohar Parrikar is taking. Ask yourself why on earth is he on Hotel Majestic’s case all of a sudden? There is much more to Majestic than Parrikar wants to tell us. An investigation into why its excise collections are so low could provide us all grist up to the next Assembly elections even. Whoever told Parrikar to investigate this aspect must have also told him the reasons why. Why the silence then? As for La Calypso, after it changed Baga’s landscape permanently, it then became a part of Goan folklore. No matter what the Bombay High Court says or does, no matter how many times this hotel, whose actions have become rather aggressive, is demolished; its powerfully rich owners will always defy the law and rebuild. At the worst, find a solution.
So what is Parrikar’s gamble? Apart from waking up a Rip Van Winkle-like case with the timing of an injury time cup final equalizer, he is deflecting public opinion away from La affaire Cidade de Goa. In fact Hotel Majestic has been screaming Goa’s actions (all the anti-casino stuff) are ‘anti-Goan’ to anybody who listens. Unfortunately it is so easy when the Congress is rolling the dice. Just look at the way it is making an ass of itself, chasing away the casinos to Aguada Bay, as if sneaking them away from the arc-lights is going to make the problem go away!
More on the Gravy Train
Then there is one more approved offshore floating casino in the pipeline. But, rumour has it there are actually three – the owners of two of them are Gujarati diamond dealers whom a certain cabinet minister has promised he can deal them through the encryption system that the Goa casino issue appears to have found itself in, obviously for a huge payout. Well, Digambar Kamat did say he had 21 applications in the kitty, didn’t he?
Trying to Have your Cake and Eating it
It’s going to be a mighty stale cake when the party is over. Because casino owners have queued up to take the government to court and by the way things are going, they could be on a winning streak because all they are asking is for government to point out where at the new location are the facilities to land gamblers coming to the casinos and how logistics like stevedoring, crew transfer etc, can happen. Right now the only thing going for this daft government is the fact that the casino owners, though they have one agenda, are divided on the basis that some are registered under a foreign flag while some are under the Indian flag. Therefore for the owners it does not matter if their casinos are moved out of the jurisdiction of the local authorities. Majestic Hotel which owns the Pride of Goa in fact claims its casino can withstand sea conditions; its problem is that certainly during bad weather pitching and rolling at the Aguada Bay will drive away gamblers. As a result owners of casinos registered under the Indian flag have twice their concerns.
Worse Concerns
Reading Wednesday’s English papers I discovered another angle –this government simply has no clue of shipping registry or offshore registry for that matter, as Parrikar has found out days ago to his utter glee. For one, it thinks the Hazardous Waste Management and Handling Rules of the Goa State Pollution Control Board apply to the casinos at their current anchorage because it seems Digambar Kamat thinks they are anchored ‘within the city limits of the Mandovi.’ What happens, hypothetically speaking, if they move out of the inland waterways governed by government through an archaic set of rules called the Inland Steam Vessels Act, 1917; to four nautical miles off Aguada Bay, where another act comes into force. You can bet he hasn’t thought this out, no one has. In other words this is going to be a Titanic problem.
Or of Queen Mary proportions
To begin with, this government has no idea what are the survey rules and regulations that govern casinos, particularly dry docking rules. This might shock you, but it is the stark naked truth. Such was its hurry to choke up the best part of the Mandovi with casinos, it approved eight mooring buoys for the casinos. Accordingly it approved and fixed locations for two mooring buoys for the Casino Royale at pre-designated latitudes and longitudes; asked the Pride of Goa to secure itself between two mooring buoys off the Mandovi Riviera with the help of mooring ropes on a temporary basis; ordered the Arabian Sea King to be berthed alongside of Barcolento at the RND jetty, Panjim on a ‘touch and go basis; berthed the Caravela at the Directorate of Fisheries jetty, Panjim; and asked The Leela to moor to two buoys at pre-designated latitudes and longitudes. The ‘touch and go’ accorded to the Arabian Sea King which I presume allows it to anchor mid-river and ferry gamblers from where the Barcolento is secured; means (and I can only assume again) the casino does not have to secure itself to mooring buoys. I have only one question for this government of nutty landlubbers. Who, as a result of what I have said above, will determine where and how the casinos are anchored at the Aguada Bay? Touché.
(Feedback 9763718501, lionroars.goa@gmail)
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Making a killing in Goa
GIDC’s cover-ups
It is amazing how Goa’s various rungs of the Mafiosi work in the twilight zone and also the power they wield.
Last week I acquainted you with two covert operatives who operate with impunity within the Goa Industrial Development Corporation. One is a field officer based at the Verna Industrial Estate –I called him Agent ‘S,’ the other is a deputy general manager at GIDC’s headquarters in Panjim. Call him Agent ‘B.’ The two influential operatives own utility buildings within the Verna estate. One is located behind the Chikitsa Hospital and obviously you won’t find their names on the building documents. They own another building at the entrance of the estate. Agent B is married to the sister of an influential ex-MLA who lost his kurchi in the last Assembly election. Between the two Agents they own 20 plots at the Verna estate and a plot or plots possibly at every major industrial estate, certainly at the Kundaim, Pilerne, Sancoale and Madkaim estates which makes tracking them rather difficult, but fairly easy when it comes to ferreting out information from sources on various floors of the IDC building. Because when you rake in the kind of moolah these guys make, you tend to make enemies as well. For the record, there are 20 industrial estates. I am told if I look hard enough, I might find Agent B’s mother’s name mentioned in the documents of some of the plots he owns. And by the way, the two have a cosy partnership agreement working for them in the names of their parents, which means as stakeholders they are also shareholders.
The Food Chain
Contrary to popular belief, an industry’s minister does not rake in as much as say a GIDC chairman, because GIDC is a niche market for Agent S & B who are both so adept and accomplished in plot selling, that they are much sought after. By this yardstick, a company calling itself Meher Developments might be a front for Babu Kavlekar. This issue has been raised in the Assembly by Manohar Parrikar. It owns a plot at Verna. Thus the food chain at GIDC is restricted to a few, and it seems implausible but not impossible I am told, that Agents S and B have frequently done in their superiors when it comes to sharing the loot. You will be surprised, I was, that when land for SEZs was being parceled out in a hurry to meet Kamal Nath’s deadline of 150 SEZs, much of the money, for instance, did not reach the main honcho at GIDC. One SEZ I am informed, came through the back door invited by the scion of a political bigwig now in the dusk of his long career mostly as chief minister. The ex-CM’s son and the son of a SEZ promoter studied together in the US of A and the former invited the promoter into his parlour, so to speak. The rest as they says is history. So really, not every industry minister makes a whack, he is sometimes called on to wait till election time, and part of this expense is paid for then.
Agent B + Agent S = Plot
It works like this. At the much wanted (vaunted?) Verna estate, IDC’s official rate is Rs 750 per M2. Unofficially, this has gone up to a band of Rs 1750-3000 depending on the location of the plot and its access to link roads. As a result, entrepreneurs who refused to part with slush money, were awarded plots in remote areas of the Verna estate. An equipment dealer with the name of a popular Hindu god paid Rs 3000 per M2 for his plot. I can’t reveal the size of the plot to feed you more masala, because that would reveal the name of the entrepreneur. This forces entrepreneurs like him to turn brokers, so they can at least recover or recoup some of their losses. So, when a logistics company rhyming with the name some of you would pronounce Ghanti, approached the owner of a company with a name that sounds like it rises at the crack of dawn, the latter simply pointed the former in Agent B’s direction. Within the boundary walls of Goa’s industrial estates and some don’t even have boundary walls, this is known as chain marketing. Nice touch. The ex-MLA with more than a family relationship with Agent B sold his highway side plot for Rs 10,000 per M2.
Which is why, some entrepreneurs possibly hang on for dear life to their unutilized plots. A Bangalore company bought two plots each of 10,000 M2 size at the Verna estate nearly five years ago. It has till date utilized only one plot. Which is why, GIDC is rubbing its hands in glee at the appetizing thought of all that SEZ land falling into its sticky fingers once the promoters are returned the money they officially invested. But that might take long, because there is this little question of how the unofficial money will be returned, if at all it is to be returned.
(Feedback 9763718501, lionroars.goa@gmail)
It is amazing how Goa’s various rungs of the Mafiosi work in the twilight zone and also the power they wield.
Last week I acquainted you with two covert operatives who operate with impunity within the Goa Industrial Development Corporation. One is a field officer based at the Verna Industrial Estate –I called him Agent ‘S,’ the other is a deputy general manager at GIDC’s headquarters in Panjim. Call him Agent ‘B.’ The two influential operatives own utility buildings within the Verna estate. One is located behind the Chikitsa Hospital and obviously you won’t find their names on the building documents. They own another building at the entrance of the estate. Agent B is married to the sister of an influential ex-MLA who lost his kurchi in the last Assembly election. Between the two Agents they own 20 plots at the Verna estate and a plot or plots possibly at every major industrial estate, certainly at the Kundaim, Pilerne, Sancoale and Madkaim estates which makes tracking them rather difficult, but fairly easy when it comes to ferreting out information from sources on various floors of the IDC building. Because when you rake in the kind of moolah these guys make, you tend to make enemies as well. For the record, there are 20 industrial estates. I am told if I look hard enough, I might find Agent B’s mother’s name mentioned in the documents of some of the plots he owns. And by the way, the two have a cosy partnership agreement working for them in the names of their parents, which means as stakeholders they are also shareholders.
The Food Chain
Contrary to popular belief, an industry’s minister does not rake in as much as say a GIDC chairman, because GIDC is a niche market for Agent S & B who are both so adept and accomplished in plot selling, that they are much sought after. By this yardstick, a company calling itself Meher Developments might be a front for Babu Kavlekar. This issue has been raised in the Assembly by Manohar Parrikar. It owns a plot at Verna. Thus the food chain at GIDC is restricted to a few, and it seems implausible but not impossible I am told, that Agents S and B have frequently done in their superiors when it comes to sharing the loot. You will be surprised, I was, that when land for SEZs was being parceled out in a hurry to meet Kamal Nath’s deadline of 150 SEZs, much of the money, for instance, did not reach the main honcho at GIDC. One SEZ I am informed, came through the back door invited by the scion of a political bigwig now in the dusk of his long career mostly as chief minister. The ex-CM’s son and the son of a SEZ promoter studied together in the US of A and the former invited the promoter into his parlour, so to speak. The rest as they says is history. So really, not every industry minister makes a whack, he is sometimes called on to wait till election time, and part of this expense is paid for then.
Agent B + Agent S = Plot
It works like this. At the much wanted (vaunted?) Verna estate, IDC’s official rate is Rs 750 per M2. Unofficially, this has gone up to a band of Rs 1750-3000 depending on the location of the plot and its access to link roads. As a result, entrepreneurs who refused to part with slush money, were awarded plots in remote areas of the Verna estate. An equipment dealer with the name of a popular Hindu god paid Rs 3000 per M2 for his plot. I can’t reveal the size of the plot to feed you more masala, because that would reveal the name of the entrepreneur. This forces entrepreneurs like him to turn brokers, so they can at least recover or recoup some of their losses. So, when a logistics company rhyming with the name some of you would pronounce Ghanti, approached the owner of a company with a name that sounds like it rises at the crack of dawn, the latter simply pointed the former in Agent B’s direction. Within the boundary walls of Goa’s industrial estates and some don’t even have boundary walls, this is known as chain marketing. Nice touch. The ex-MLA with more than a family relationship with Agent B sold his highway side plot for Rs 10,000 per M2.
Which is why, some entrepreneurs possibly hang on for dear life to their unutilized plots. A Bangalore company bought two plots each of 10,000 M2 size at the Verna estate nearly five years ago. It has till date utilized only one plot. Which is why, GIDC is rubbing its hands in glee at the appetizing thought of all that SEZ land falling into its sticky fingers once the promoters are returned the money they officially invested. But that might take long, because there is this little question of how the unofficial money will be returned, if at all it is to be returned.
(Feedback 9763718501, lionroars.goa@gmail)
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Anything goes in Goa
Diju’s Ordinance. Even Goa ain’t seen anything like this before.
Aam aadmi was a word coined by this very government and Congress party to make a point, which after La Affaire Cidade means bullshit to you and me, not that it meant anything before, you know that. ‘Diju’s Ordinance’ the phrase to describe the CMs act of warlordism will go down well soon with your pint like ‘Monster Rat and 40 chores’ did and is probably the last nail in the collective coffin meant for the aam aadmi, for Goa is now surely a failed state. Bihar was once till the sensible Biharis decided to kick out warlord Laloo Prasad Yadav. Warlord, did I say? Like the warlords in Somali, what other word can I use to describe the actions of the men who have scripted what must easily rank as Goa’s most anti-people act in history. So if you have beach side properties, build on them furiously. You never know when it could be acquired by the Congress. After all there are precedents both by the Congress and the MGP. For instance, the MGP acquired a priceless bit of vantage land at Bogmolo decades ago for a five-star hotel, while the Congress did it for the Taj hotels at Sinquerim and again for the Goa Mariott at Mira Mar. And if you recall, the Konkan rail route was diverted out of the iron ore mining areas, dragged from the mainland on to an island (Divar), back to the same mainland. Perhaps for the first time ever in India, because the thumb rule is, you save costs (which did not happen because two bridges had to be built into and out of Divar) and you avoid fragile islands.
No Ordinance for them
If it happens to be the real aam aadmi, the Congress apparently cares two hoots. Ask these 15 Goans whose shacks were demolished in one single season last year. 1. Santiago Fernandes, Maddo Vaddo, Calangute. 2. Alex D’Souza, Maddo Vaddo, Calangute. 3. Cruz Fernandes, Maddo Vaddo, Calangute. 4. Anni fernandes, Maddo Vaddo, Calangute. 5. Maggie D’Souza, Umta Vaddo, Calangute. 6. Bento Gonsalves, Umta Vaddo, Calangute. 7. Francis Correia, Umta Vaddo, Calangute. 8. Sunil Govekar, Nerul. 9 Govind Simepurushkar, Nerul. 10. Ritesh M. Kalangutkar, Nerul. 11. Domingos Pereira, Nerul. 12. Gopal K. Kandolkar, Nerul. 13. Concessao M. Rodrigues, Nerul. 14. Concessao Mendes, Nerul. 15. Francisco C. Fernandes, Saunta Vaddo, Calangute.
These hapless shack owners are likely to tell you that the Congress is only out to harm the aam aadmi because the license fees they paid for their respective shacks was never reimbursed by the Department of Tourism after it declared the shacks were illegal when their respective owners changed locations from the originally allotted sites. Big deal, after all what harm was done or could ever have been done by the shack owners who temporarily occupied tiny portions of land, as compared to the vast lands acquired by governments virtually free for permanent five-star hotels. This government owns the bulldozers after all, is terminally anti-aam aadmi, and is intrepid when it comes to acquiring land for the rich.
Five-star versus shack owner
Each year after a great deal of wheeling and dealing, tears often, the government allots 196 shacks in north Goa mainly along the beaches of Keri, Arambol, Ozrant, Mandrem, Morjim, Anjuna, Vagator, and in bigger stretches at Calangute and Candolim. In the south of Goa, 106 shacks are allotted in the beaches of Velsao, Arrossim, Utorda, Majorda, Betalbatim, Colva, Sernabatim (Colva), Benaulim, Velludo (Benaulim) Fatrade (Varca), Varca, Zalor, Cavelossim and Palolem. The figure marginally increased in the north from 166 in 2006-07 to 168 in 2007-08, to 196 in 2008-09. There has hardly been a season when there has not been any rancour directly connected to the system of allotment, allegedly by lottery picking. In 2006-07 there were 569 applicants, in 2007-08 there were 562, and in 2008-09 there were 572. Do the math and you know how many were turned back disappointed. The Department of Tourism denies any wrong doing, but veteran shack owners swear some shacks at least are allotted on a “reference basis” or outside the lottery system. The department denies that. But everyone is acquainted with the might of the five-star hotel industry which claims the shacks eat into their profits running into hundreds of crores, all of it siphoned out of Goa, except in the case of good old Cidade de Goa. Really, this was never meant to be a David versus Goliath thing, but it must be said that in government there are mostly believers of Five-star power and in the entertainment thereof, and therefore they stay Believers.
So shall it reap the fruits
And like the rich who reap the fruits, literally and metaphorically, of the land, so does government. In 2006-07 the government earned a revenue of Rs 68,50,00 from its inflated shack licence fee, in 2007-08 it earned Rs 55,50,00 and in 2008-09 it earned a massive Rs 77,20,00. And you can bet despite what Digambar Kamat said about the licence fees for the onshore-offshore Casinos being used for social causes, this ain’t never gonna happen. Amen.
Aam aadmi was a word coined by this very government and Congress party to make a point, which after La Affaire Cidade means bullshit to you and me, not that it meant anything before, you know that. ‘Diju’s Ordinance’ the phrase to describe the CMs act of warlordism will go down well soon with your pint like ‘Monster Rat and 40 chores’ did and is probably the last nail in the collective coffin meant for the aam aadmi, for Goa is now surely a failed state. Bihar was once till the sensible Biharis decided to kick out warlord Laloo Prasad Yadav. Warlord, did I say? Like the warlords in Somali, what other word can I use to describe the actions of the men who have scripted what must easily rank as Goa’s most anti-people act in history. So if you have beach side properties, build on them furiously. You never know when it could be acquired by the Congress. After all there are precedents both by the Congress and the MGP. For instance, the MGP acquired a priceless bit of vantage land at Bogmolo decades ago for a five-star hotel, while the Congress did it for the Taj hotels at Sinquerim and again for the Goa Mariott at Mira Mar. And if you recall, the Konkan rail route was diverted out of the iron ore mining areas, dragged from the mainland on to an island (Divar), back to the same mainland. Perhaps for the first time ever in India, because the thumb rule is, you save costs (which did not happen because two bridges had to be built into and out of Divar) and you avoid fragile islands.
No Ordinance for them
If it happens to be the real aam aadmi, the Congress apparently cares two hoots. Ask these 15 Goans whose shacks were demolished in one single season last year. 1. Santiago Fernandes, Maddo Vaddo, Calangute. 2. Alex D’Souza, Maddo Vaddo, Calangute. 3. Cruz Fernandes, Maddo Vaddo, Calangute. 4. Anni fernandes, Maddo Vaddo, Calangute. 5. Maggie D’Souza, Umta Vaddo, Calangute. 6. Bento Gonsalves, Umta Vaddo, Calangute. 7. Francis Correia, Umta Vaddo, Calangute. 8. Sunil Govekar, Nerul. 9 Govind Simepurushkar, Nerul. 10. Ritesh M. Kalangutkar, Nerul. 11. Domingos Pereira, Nerul. 12. Gopal K. Kandolkar, Nerul. 13. Concessao M. Rodrigues, Nerul. 14. Concessao Mendes, Nerul. 15. Francisco C. Fernandes, Saunta Vaddo, Calangute.
These hapless shack owners are likely to tell you that the Congress is only out to harm the aam aadmi because the license fees they paid for their respective shacks was never reimbursed by the Department of Tourism after it declared the shacks were illegal when their respective owners changed locations from the originally allotted sites. Big deal, after all what harm was done or could ever have been done by the shack owners who temporarily occupied tiny portions of land, as compared to the vast lands acquired by governments virtually free for permanent five-star hotels. This government owns the bulldozers after all, is terminally anti-aam aadmi, and is intrepid when it comes to acquiring land for the rich.
Five-star versus shack owner
Each year after a great deal of wheeling and dealing, tears often, the government allots 196 shacks in north Goa mainly along the beaches of Keri, Arambol, Ozrant, Mandrem, Morjim, Anjuna, Vagator, and in bigger stretches at Calangute and Candolim. In the south of Goa, 106 shacks are allotted in the beaches of Velsao, Arrossim, Utorda, Majorda, Betalbatim, Colva, Sernabatim (Colva), Benaulim, Velludo (Benaulim) Fatrade (Varca), Varca, Zalor, Cavelossim and Palolem. The figure marginally increased in the north from 166 in 2006-07 to 168 in 2007-08, to 196 in 2008-09. There has hardly been a season when there has not been any rancour directly connected to the system of allotment, allegedly by lottery picking. In 2006-07 there were 569 applicants, in 2007-08 there were 562, and in 2008-09 there were 572. Do the math and you know how many were turned back disappointed. The Department of Tourism denies any wrong doing, but veteran shack owners swear some shacks at least are allotted on a “reference basis” or outside the lottery system. The department denies that. But everyone is acquainted with the might of the five-star hotel industry which claims the shacks eat into their profits running into hundreds of crores, all of it siphoned out of Goa, except in the case of good old Cidade de Goa. Really, this was never meant to be a David versus Goliath thing, but it must be said that in government there are mostly believers of Five-star power and in the entertainment thereof, and therefore they stay Believers.
So shall it reap the fruits
And like the rich who reap the fruits, literally and metaphorically, of the land, so does government. In 2006-07 the government earned a revenue of Rs 68,50,00 from its inflated shack licence fee, in 2007-08 it earned Rs 55,50,00 and in 2008-09 it earned a massive Rs 77,20,00. And you can bet despite what Digambar Kamat said about the licence fees for the onshore-offshore Casinos being used for social causes, this ain’t never gonna happen. Amen.
Goa as the Land of Opportunity
We the People
Last week I wrote how the Goa Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) refused to divulge information that would be released to citizens in most democracies, certainly India’s. But, it chose instead to make it look like the Right to Information Act was an Albatross around its neck, so to speak. My questions to GIDC were borne out of the knowledge of a surreptitious method to transfer already owned plots to new owners. This information was also withheld from the Goa State Industries Association (GSIA) after a few dogged Goan entrepreneurs perturbed by these goings-on asked GIDC for information. I am not even sure GSIA has the information, which speaks volumes of how government-owned corporations and its departments are managed – sneaky as hell. After the Herald business pages exposed the pathetic conditions in a few industrial estates, GIDC did repair some roads, but came down on a few prime suspects. Now entrepreneurs are too scared to talk.
Sleaze and vice
Why should entrepreneurs, many of whom who have totally suspect agendas, see Goa as the Land of Opportunity like the US is seen as by a Diaspora of immigrants? And why should they take on lease a plot (in some cases plots) and when the going gets rough or, a sucker shows up, sell the plots off at a fat price. As rumour has it, there is an interest group at work that lays its sticky fingers on as many plots as possible. Legally, can an entrepreneur who has taken a plot on lease, sell or transfer (that’s the legal term used in this game of Musical Chairs a.k.a Musical Plots) ownership? If he can, should be be allowed to do at will on what is unarguably government land? And is that what is government-owned is fundamentally owned by We the People? I mean you don’t like your employer, you walk away. Your job sucks, find another that you like. Your local grocery/pub is crap, you walk away. You don’t hang in there for a replacement! So, if a failed entrepreneur can’t get his act together, he should be shown the door. Right?
Sinking hooks in
An application form to transfer a plot was especially formatted proving GIDC knowingly prepared itself for exactly this eventuality with typical bureaucratic foresight. To make the entire process look self-important, a procedure was set in. Thus a formal letter from the transferor and transferee and a Memorandum of Understanding were a part of the elaborate paper work. The transferor has to submit a deregistration certificate from the Directorate of Industries (applicable for registered units only.) Really now, if the entrepreneur has been ‘pre-deregistered’ simply show him the door (he is on his way out anyway, for Chrissakes) and bring in the new. So, why bait a fish, if it’s not food you want on the platter? Or, is it that the bait is not for the fish but really for the fisher. There is more of paper work, but it’s frankly boring.
Even bigger bait
As on December 31, 2008, GIDC received 242 applications for transfer of plots from January 1, 2007. It approved 180 transfers. My investigations reveal that the first official cut-off date for the transfer was October 31, 2008. Guess why the deadline was deferred? On a bet of 10 to one, you would be dead right if your answer was, ‘some transferors were themselves part of the decision making.’ Within the Langley (CIA headquarters) like structure of GIDC where secrets are also not leaked out, there are two well-known handlers whose undercover operations ensure that plots are transferred at a price. One goes by the code name Agent ‘S’ and works undercover at the Verna Industrial Estate. The other is Agent ‘B’ based at the GIDC’s headquarters in Panjim. He was once a simple computer assistant, but got promoted high up on the hierarchy when GIDC discovered his talent for undercover work.
Turning tricks
The number of transferors and transferees involved in the packaging or offset printing trade involved in both directions of the plot exchange business that obviously transacted under the table, boggles the mind. I say under the table because, if it were over the table, then entrepreneur transferors would mandatorily hand over their unutilised plots to GIDC. That’s the way it should be. One headline grabber is the case of Shree Mallikarjun Shipping Pvt. Ltd that owned two plots (141 &1470 M2) in the Sancoale Industrial Estate which it transferred to Goa Shipyard Ltd. Two things cross the mind instantly: GSL is a GoI-owned defense public sector unit; why should it have to negotiate with a private company for plots? Why, for exactly cases like this, and for that matter deserving new generation entrepreneurs; are failed entrepreneurs not forced to surrender their plots, so that fresh negotiations can be conducted that would financially benefit GIDC. Get my point?
--
Last week I wrote how the Goa Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) refused to divulge information that would be released to citizens in most democracies, certainly India’s. But, it chose instead to make it look like the Right to Information Act was an Albatross around its neck, so to speak. My questions to GIDC were borne out of the knowledge of a surreptitious method to transfer already owned plots to new owners. This information was also withheld from the Goa State Industries Association (GSIA) after a few dogged Goan entrepreneurs perturbed by these goings-on asked GIDC for information. I am not even sure GSIA has the information, which speaks volumes of how government-owned corporations and its departments are managed – sneaky as hell. After the Herald business pages exposed the pathetic conditions in a few industrial estates, GIDC did repair some roads, but came down on a few prime suspects. Now entrepreneurs are too scared to talk.
Sleaze and vice
Why should entrepreneurs, many of whom who have totally suspect agendas, see Goa as the Land of Opportunity like the US is seen as by a Diaspora of immigrants? And why should they take on lease a plot (in some cases plots) and when the going gets rough or, a sucker shows up, sell the plots off at a fat price. As rumour has it, there is an interest group at work that lays its sticky fingers on as many plots as possible. Legally, can an entrepreneur who has taken a plot on lease, sell or transfer (that’s the legal term used in this game of Musical Chairs a.k.a Musical Plots) ownership? If he can, should be be allowed to do at will on what is unarguably government land? And is that what is government-owned is fundamentally owned by We the People? I mean you don’t like your employer, you walk away. Your job sucks, find another that you like. Your local grocery/pub is crap, you walk away. You don’t hang in there for a replacement! So, if a failed entrepreneur can’t get his act together, he should be shown the door. Right?
Sinking hooks in
An application form to transfer a plot was especially formatted proving GIDC knowingly prepared itself for exactly this eventuality with typical bureaucratic foresight. To make the entire process look self-important, a procedure was set in. Thus a formal letter from the transferor and transferee and a Memorandum of Understanding were a part of the elaborate paper work. The transferor has to submit a deregistration certificate from the Directorate of Industries (applicable for registered units only.) Really now, if the entrepreneur has been ‘pre-deregistered’ simply show him the door (he is on his way out anyway, for Chrissakes) and bring in the new. So, why bait a fish, if it’s not food you want on the platter? Or, is it that the bait is not for the fish but really for the fisher. There is more of paper work, but it’s frankly boring.
Even bigger bait
As on December 31, 2008, GIDC received 242 applications for transfer of plots from January 1, 2007. It approved 180 transfers. My investigations reveal that the first official cut-off date for the transfer was October 31, 2008. Guess why the deadline was deferred? On a bet of 10 to one, you would be dead right if your answer was, ‘some transferors were themselves part of the decision making.’ Within the Langley (CIA headquarters) like structure of GIDC where secrets are also not leaked out, there are two well-known handlers whose undercover operations ensure that plots are transferred at a price. One goes by the code name Agent ‘S’ and works undercover at the Verna Industrial Estate. The other is Agent ‘B’ based at the GIDC’s headquarters in Panjim. He was once a simple computer assistant, but got promoted high up on the hierarchy when GIDC discovered his talent for undercover work.
Turning tricks
The number of transferors and transferees involved in the packaging or offset printing trade involved in both directions of the plot exchange business that obviously transacted under the table, boggles the mind. I say under the table because, if it were over the table, then entrepreneur transferors would mandatorily hand over their unutilised plots to GIDC. That’s the way it should be. One headline grabber is the case of Shree Mallikarjun Shipping Pvt. Ltd that owned two plots (141 &1470 M2) in the Sancoale Industrial Estate which it transferred to Goa Shipyard Ltd. Two things cross the mind instantly: GSL is a GoI-owned defense public sector unit; why should it have to negotiate with a private company for plots? Why, for exactly cases like this, and for that matter deserving new generation entrepreneurs; are failed entrepreneurs not forced to surrender their plots, so that fresh negotiations can be conducted that would financially benefit GIDC. Get my point?
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