TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: While the MV River Princess is almost on its way
out, recovering huge expenditures incurred over it during the last 12 years is
now going to haunt the State in the days to come.
It appears that all efforts have only been channelised on
getting the vessel off Goa ’s waters, while the larger
issue on the financial implications has been under wraps.
Information procured from the Tourism department shows
that the state governments since 2000 have spent crores of rupees on various
issues pertaining to the grounded vessel.
These include costs on advertisements inviting global
tenders for removal of the grounded vessel since 2000.
On nine occasions global tenders were issued, the first
of which was invited by the North Goa District Magistrate and Collector.
Thereafter, the matter was handed over to the State Tourism Ministry who
invited international tenders through advertisements from time to time.
Details show that lakhs of rupees have gone towards fees
for fighting legal battles and arbitration matters which still continue before
the High Court. The advocates’ fees have been totalled to around Rs 12.88 lakh
on various senior lawyers in Goa and one from Mumbai.
Expenditures have also been incurred on travel of state
government officials to attend court matters while the case was transferred to
Mumbai. And huge amounts have also gone towards seeking various technical
reports and consulting experts from time to time in a bid to get the grounded
vessel removed.
This is in addition to the present tender of Rs 99 crore
to M/s Arihant Shipping who are presently engaged in removing the vessel.
Added financial burdens will also come from various taxes
that have not been paid since 2001 to Customs, Excise and others as the MV
River Princess is a foreign vessel.
According to sources, the Goa Tourist Places Protection
and Maintenance Act of 2001 empowers the government to initiate recovery
proceedings in such matters from erring parties which in this case is M/s
Salgaoncar Mining Industries Limited.
However, it appears that the government has not yet given
a thought on this issue. Speculations are that the government may just wait for
the outcome of the case before the High Court wherein M/s SMIL has challenged
the Goa Tourist Places Protection and Maintenance Act.
Director of Tourism, Swapnil Naik when quizzed on this
matter refused to comment.
He said, “The matter will have to be placed before the
State Disaster Management Committee.”
It is feared that in case steps are taken to recover all
the costs incurred towards removing the grounded vessel from its owners, it may
result in another legal tangle.
The former Calangute MLA Agnelo Fernandes who had been
spearheading the River Princess Hatao Manch said, “The government must recover
all costs from the owners of the vessel.” In his opinion there should be no
hesitation on the part of the government to raise the bill and make the owners
pay. He further said, “The Act has only been challenged by the owners in court,
not struck down.”