PANAJI, Oct 10: Goa Chief Minister Wilfred D'Souza today came down heavily on Irrigation Minister Dayanand Narvekar for writing directly to the Prime Minister on the issue of Central grants to the State.By writing directly to the Prime Minister, Narvekar has committed an ``impropriety'', D'Souza told reporters here, adding, ``I have taken serious view of it. Should such things repeat, perhaps I will even take serious steps''. Narvekar's action of writing to the Prime Minister directly amounted to ``indiscipline'' and was ``highly improper'' as the matter should have been first discussed in the Cabinet and left to him (D'Souza) to take it up with the Centre, the Chief Minister said.He said that besides the issue of Central grant raised in it, the letter reportedly warned the Centre ``not to treat Goa as a colony''.The contents like ``People in the State will agitate on the issue of grant'' tended to disturb the Centre-State relation, D'Souza added.``Coming at a time when I am pleading with theCentre for additional grant it did not augur well,'' he said. Narvekar, in his capacity as Minister for Planning, was present at the recent meeting the Planning Commission held in Goa to decide the annual allocation and he should have raised the matter there, he said.Narvekar in his letter said the Central assistance to Goa had decreased to around Rs 61 crore in 1997-98 from Rs 110 crore in 1991-92. However, D'Souza said during 1991-92 at the time of seventh five year plan period, Goa was treated as a Union territory but subsequently it became a State and the Central grant was given on the basis of Gadgil-Mukherjee formula as applicable to other states.The Chief Minister, who has reportedly not received a copy of the letter, said he has asked the chief secretary to arrange to procure a copy and find out what made Narvekar write to the Centre.D'Souza, who heads the coalition government, said he was in touch with his other Cabinet colleagues.
