Even as Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar has began attempts to have a separate IAS cadre for Goa, state Congress chief Shantaram Naik has expressed fear that officers with RSS leaning might be inducted in it.
Parrikar had met leaders in Delhi last week with a demand to have a separate IAS cadre for Goa.
The state is currently covered under Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram and Union Territory (AGMUT) cadre.
While welcoming the move to have a separate cadre for the state, Naik in a statement issued here said no "deliberate or mischievous" attempt should be made by the Goa government to induct officers with RSS leanings into the Goa cadre.
Naik said that Goa chief minister should stick to his commitment to demand a separate All India Services Cadre for Goa and should not make a U-turn on the issue.
Naik, who has consistently taken up the issue of separate cadre for the last several years, said he was shocked when he was informed by the then Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Mulapally Ramachandran that Goa is not interested in having a separate cadre of All India Services.
"This matter became known during a debate held in Rajya Sabha in the month of December 2012, when on North-Eastern Areas (Reorganization) Amendment Bill, 2012, which has provided a separate cadre of Indian Administrative Service, Indian Police Service and Indian Forest Service to Manipur and Tripura," he said.
Naik said that when he had asked as to why Goa was not considered for a separate cadre, the minister replied that Goa has stated that it does not want separate cadre and showed him the letter of the Goa Government dated April 4, 2012, written to the Union Home Ministry.
Later Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiran Rijuju, informed in December 2016, that a proposal sent by Goa government to have a separate cadre for the state in the the year 2014 was still under consideration of the government, said the Congress leader.
He said the state government had put forth five grounds for having a separate cadre, including the fact that the state government was hardly consulted on transfer and posting of the officers as the Home Ministry retained these powers solely.
Naik claimed that he had argued before the central government authorities from time to time, that officers of All India Services posted in Goa are not serious about the jobs entrusted to them as, their postings are for short duration, and that, for the same reason, they do not get themselves involved in projects and schemes of the state government.
Naik said Goa is an independent state, and, however small it may be, it is entitled to have separate cadre.
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)