Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar does recce of BRICS route, impressed

MARGAO: Two days ahead of the BRICS summit to be held in South Goa, chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar on Thursday went on a reconnaissance mission to check for himself the preparedness of the state to host the two-day international event to be held on October 15 and 16.
Accompanied by chief secretary R K Srivastava, South Goa MP Narendra Sawaikar, secretary to chief minister, Ameya Abhyankar, and a team of journalists, Parsekar travelled by a mini bus from Porvorim to the summit venue, taking a detour towards the Dabolim airport, and virtually conducted a recce of the route the BRICS heads of the state would take to travel to the summit venues.
A visibly pleased Parsekar, speaking to reporters, said that the state would meet the challenge of hosting the summit with success. “We converted the challenge (of hosting the BRICS summit) into an opportunity. Despite heavy rain during the days preceding the summit, we were able to complete all the works in time,” Parsekar said.
The BRICS summit, the chief minister said, would prove to be a good opportunity for the state to project itself. “Goa will go across the world,” Parsekar said.
Asked pointedly what benefits Goa would accrue from the summit, Parsekar said he was looking at the benefits from the “investment point of view”. He hoped that investments would flow into the state in sectors like IT, electronics and pharmaceuticals, thereby projecting Goa as an investment destination.
The chief minister, nevertheless, did not miss the opportunity to use the moment as a public relations exercise ahead of the assembly elections in the next four months. En route to the summit venue, Parsekar alighted from the bus at Benaulim and casually stepped into a general store. He had a brief chat with the store owner while merrily posing for photos and selfies. “You will have to bear with some restrictions on traffic movement for the next two to three days,” the chief minister told the people gathered at the store, apologetically, who, however, didn’t seem to mind.
As the chief minister stepped out of the store, he bumped into former PWD minister Churchill Alemao and exchanged pleasantries. Benaulim MLA Caetano Silva and fisheries minister Avertano Furtado also met the chief minister at Colva, before the latter’s entourage headed back to Panaji.