Wining and Dining Faleiro-style

The chosen ones

Last week you read how Rs 3,31,47,262 was spent on the shenanigans of the NRI Commissioner Eduardo Faleiro. When I said partying at conventions, I was serious, very serious. Here’s how some of that money was spent. A symposium on NRIs and family values held at the Goa International Centre, Dona Paula in Panjim on July 22, 2006 cost Rs 2,89,418. A huge sum of Rs 39,31,470 was spent on the Global Goans Convention 2007 held at the Cidade de Goa (yes, the chosen one) on January 3-5, 2007. Rs 7,23,421 was blown up on the 7th Know India programme for Diaspora youth on September 2-15, 2007. No venue was specified in the RTI data. A conference on Indian expats in the Gulf held at Hotel Mandovi, Panjim on March 29, 2008 cost Rs 1,98,308. A sum of Rs 3,88,740 was spent on a conference on building bridges with Africa on July 12, 2008 at the Cidade de Goa. The 1st Know Goa programme for Goan diaspora youth held jointly in Goa and Delhi on November 30 and December 14 of 2008 cost you Rs 13,47,689. I can’t begin to tell you how many times these well-heeled Goan youth must have holidayed in Goa prior to this extravaganza, and now we give them a paid holiday in Goa and one to Delhi just for good measure. Then there was Faleiro’s magnum opus: a conference on migration trends and the Goa Migration Study 2008 at the Goa International Centre held on October 9, 2009. Cost: Rs 1,66,180. Also, if you recall from last Sunday, the study cost Rs 20L, and Faleiro also flew to Kerala at a cost Rs 1,39,781 for the purpose.

More tears for tax-payers

Next he organized a 2nd Know Goa programme in Goa and Delhi from November 30-December 14, 2008 an extravaganza that cost you Rs 14,99,877. Makes you want to pull out your hair. Finally, a conference called ‘Goans in Europe and Europeans in Goa: Cultural experiences and identity’ at Hotel Nova Goa, Panjim on December 11, 2009 that cost Rs 52,949. Yes, I know that word identity again, and all that money blown on a Lost Cause. Hollywood makes sequels, Faleiro makes re-runs of lost causes or as some would say lost cause found again. In the end, the lost cause really was the Rs 85,98,052 spent on partying at conventions. And when they were not carousing, they were flying.

The joy(stick) of flying

Between Faleiro, VAdm John D’Silva (retd), Chairman of the Overseas Employment Agency of Goa, and U.D Kamat, the Director for NRI Affairs, they spent Rs 4,22,781 on flying within the country in 2009-10. Faleiro did that Kerala trip that cost Rs 1,39,781 on May 10-17, 2009. He flew to Bangalore on July 1-8 – Rs 40,746, to Delhi on August 2-8 - Rs 59,247, to Delhi on October 20-24 - Rs 1,22,715 and to Bangalore again on January 25-31, 2010 - Rs 9,277. It’s been questioned here before and needs to be posed again. How on earth do Goa’s politicians pay well over Rs 1L for a single (allegedly) ticket? D’Silva flew to Delhi on July 22-25, 2009 – Rs 10,651, to Bangalore and Delhi on August 23-30 – Rs 9,118 and to Delhi on September 7-10, 2009 – Rs 23,248. Kamat flew once, to Hyderabad, on July 25-27 – Rs 7,998. If you see the humour in it, Faleiro’s flying abroad in fact could entitle him to become a non-resident Goan himself. Well, at least, a BRG (barely resident Goan).

Run(away) costs

In 2008-09 Rs 8,14,833 of your tax bucks was spent on them flying within the country. You could also call it run(away) costs of flying and the pun is hugely intended. Faleiro flew to Delhi on April 24-26, 2008 - Rs 38,885, to Delhi, Vishakapatnam and Hyderabad on June 22-July 6 – Rs 62,333, to Delhi on August 20-27 – Rs 46,985, to Delhi on September 20-23 – at a huge cost of Rs 99,156, to Delhi again on October 19-23 – at a massive, massive cost of Rs 1,46,557, to Delhi on October 28-November 1 – Rs 55,397, to Mumbai on November 11-17 – Rs 25,070, to Delhi on March 1-6, 2009 – again incurring a massive Rs 1,60,997. The question is why did Faleiro spend Rs 6,35,680 flying mostly between April-November of 2008 to destinations one can safely assume had little or nothing to do with his job (officially at least) at hand. Incidentally, both D’Silva and Kamat also did their bit of flying --to the same destinations. So were they shadowing Faleiro or simply duplicating his work? D’Silva flew to Delhi (2), Bangalore and Thiruvananthapuram, while Kamat flew to Delhi (5), Hyderabad and Mumbai. In 2007-08 the trio spent Rs 5,33,805, Faleiro doing the bulk of the costlier flying once again. Like his Rs 1,06,789 flight to Delhi on October 21-27, 2007, another to Mumbai-Vishakhapatnam-Hyderabad-Mumbai on July 2-8, 2007 – Rs 47,194 and another to Mumbai on January 3-6, 2008 - Rs 53,472. D’Silva flew Bangalore-Hyderabad-Chennai on April 17-20, 2007 – Rs 41,388. In all they flew 19 times, the same as the year earlier. In 2006-07 they flew 15 times at a cost to you of Rs 3,42,649, D’Silva making a Rs 31,780 flight to Bangalore and Thiruvananthapuram, a destination that also attracted Kamat.

Report on the report

I know you are curious, so here are the facts. The cost of the Goa Migration Study 2008 was Rs 20L, while the cost of flying to Thiruvananthapuram where the study was invented was Rs 2,03,522. If you like to see it, it’s available at the office of the Commissioner for NRI Affairs at the Porvorim Secretariat. But don’t bother, you won’t find anything you already don’t know.

(feedback lionroars.goa@gmail.com, 9822152164)