Calangute case: Day after, CM Pramod Sawant dodges queries, dithers to act

PANAJI: Over 24 hours after it came to light that a woman who arrived from Mumbai ducked the Covid-19 test at the Patradevi border and then tested positive, the state government appears clueless about how the lapse occured. While public opinion swelled against the incident, which could put thousands of lives at risk, chief minister Pramod Sawant said that an inquiry he ordered is ongoing, and that “We will get her entry details”.
The peculiar nature of the case — the senior citizen woman is mother-in-law of a panch member in Calangute, and had come for a wedding party — was reported by TOI in its edition dated June 5. However, speaking to reporters, Sawant ducked questions on whether her political connections let her slip through so easily, instead saying “people shouldn’t make allegations against government employees working hard at the borders”.
However, on Friday, Calangute MLA and waste management minister Michael Lobo went out of his way to “clarify” the incident. “The 76-year-old woman is not from Calangute,” he said. “She came from Mumbai. Her daughter is married in Calangute. She got a health certificate from Mumbai and with the permission of the collector, came to Goa... Her Maharashtra driver told her he couldn’t go any further, and she should either walk or call her Goa driver... Since there was a queue at the checkpost, she got out of the car and started walking towards the checkpost with her documents.”
A car was sent to pick her up on the Goa side. “After she called the driver and was told he was waiting 250m away, she went and sat in the car.” He said that perhaps nobody noticed the 76-year-old, or there was some miscommunication, but she was not checked. “According to me this is not a security lapse,” Lobo said.
He also said that the wedding she allegedly attended was on May 31 and she arrived on June 2. “It was a small family get-together,” he said, adding that rumours that the woman died were unfounded, and that her doctors told him she’s responding well.
Meanwhile, the CM hinted that human error could have caused the goof. “As per my information, she entered Goa on June 2,” he said. “Goa is the only state to test all entrants at the border (since March 22). Perhaps her test wasn’t conducted, and I’ve issued instructions to verify why it wasn’t. Nearly 3,000 people enter Goa every day, and our staff works 24x7. However, she didn’t meet many people after entering the state, and was restricted to her family.”
Some of the CM’s own party colleagues referred to TOI’s report to question their government. “Will our system show some intention to punish the officers who allowed this violation?” asked BJP Goa veteran and former speaker Rajendra Arlekar. Former Panaji MLA Sidharth Kuncalienkar also weighed in. “Will someone plug the loopholes used by her to circumvent the system?” he asked.
The woman, who attended a wedding party but not the wedding itself, was taken to a private hospital after she complained of breathlessness. After a private hospital didn’t admit her, she was referred to Goa Medical College (GMC) and hospital, Bambolim, after which she was admitted in the Covid hospital in Margao.
Meanwhile, Sawant said that he spoke to the executive magistrate and police officers deployed at checkposts so that such errors are not repeated. “I have instructed them to tighten the entry of people,” he said. “We cannot man the entire border with police staff, especially if people enter the state through inside roads.”