Parrikar says past governments corrupted officials

Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar Thursday told the assembly that two departments under his ministries are still in a mess left behind by former governments.

Singling out the crucial mining and town and country planning (TCP) departments, Parrikar said that if it came to taking action against errant officials of the TCP department, he would have to sack the whole department.

"Against how many people can I take action, I will have to empty the whole department... not a single town planner will be left in the department, everyone's name is tainted with something or the other... I am saying it," Parrikar said, while responding to a query posed by ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator Glenn Ticlo.

"The mess in the town and country planning department did not happen during my time. It happened in the past. The department was used for selling off Goa. That is why people there have picked up bad habits... I know the limitations of making them work," Parrikar said.

The Manohar Parrikar-led coalition government has been in power for nearly two years and a half. The BJP swept the 2012 state assembly polls with an unprecedented simple majority on the mandate of good and corruption free governance.

Parrikar now claims that not only the TCP, but the scam-tainted mining department, which functions under his mining portfolio, too is in a mess.

"This is a problem with the mining department too... 10 officers were suspended, three committed suicide, one or two are in jail, there is no officer left who knows it (how systems function). These are the problems you don't realise. I am telling you the actual situation," Parrikar told the assembly.

"I am telling you, there are certain departments, which over a period of years, have gotten corroded to such an extent that the department is not left. One does not know whom to trust" Parrikar added.