PANAJI: The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday came out heavily against the Minister for Sports, Mr Manohar Azgaonkar for his proposal to construct a luxurious hostel in the form of a public-private partnership venture, along the coastline in the Mandrem constituency, as a part of the Sports City project coming up at Dhargal, for the National Games 2011 to be held in Goa.

“This is nothing but a major land scam,” the opposition party added.
The Mandrem MLA, Mr Laxmikant Parsenkar taking strong objection to the venture said that the government is misusing its land acquisition powers to buy 2.25 lakh sq mts land along the coastline, which will be utilised by a private party, with no advantage to the sons of the soil.
“The coastal land is being bought at a very cheap rate by the government, so as to construct a luxurious hostel for players and officials coming down to Goa for only 20 days,” he observed, stating that the hostel would be then handed over to a private party, which is totally absurd.
The Minister for Sports informed the House that the original 18 to 20 lakh sq mts of land proposed to be used to construct a Sports City at Dhargal was reduced to 9-odd lakh sq mts, after demand by the locals that sizeable agricultural/ cultivable land was being sacrificed for the sake of project.
“The reduction in the size of the originally proposed land forced the government to look out for alternate land, and then we decided to use the coastal land in Mandrem constituency for construction of a hostel,” he maintained, pointing out that the land in Mandrem would also be used to set up a football, a volleyball as well as a cricket academy, besides a convention centre.
The Leader of the Opposition, Mr Manohar Parrikar questioning the rational behind setting up a convention centre for visiting players, that too for not more than 20 days, alleged that the sports projects of Mr Azgaonkar seem to have considerations other than sports.
The allegation made the Minister for Sports lose his temper and use unparliamentary words, which were expunged by the Speaker,
Mr Pratapsingh Rane.
The Aldona MLA, Mr Dayanand Narvekar, taking strong objection to the filthy language used by Mr Azgaonkar said that the members of the legislative assembly need to behave in a descent manner as the proceeding of the House is being telecast live on the television.
Taking serious note of the behaviour of the Minister for Sports, the Speaker said that Mr Azgaonkar should display some culture on his part. “You have no freedom to use any kind of language in the House,” he warned, pointing out that Mr Azgaonkar was using roadside language in the assembly.
Not ready to accept the verdict of the Speaker, the Sports Minister said that he should be allowed to speak his version on the issue. “Or else, the media only records the version of the Leader of the Opposition, and make him hero in the newspapers,” he noted.
Irked with the behaviour of Mr Azgaonkar, the Speaker said, “You are behaving in the most ridiculous manner; I will ask the Marshall to throw you out.”