Panaji: Goa Deputy Chief Minister Vijai Sardesai has regretted after a video of him allegedly knocking off a ringing phone from a state administrative service official's hand during an interaction went viral.
Narrating the incident, Sardesai said in his statement that an important discussion was underway when suddenly phone of Chief Officer of the Margao Municipal Council in South Goa started ringing which left him irritated.
Issuing a clarification over the incident, Saradesai on Monday said, "We were discussing a very serious issue which is a symbol of the failure of the civic body and the administration and which pertains to the entire Salcete in general and my constituency of Fatorda in particular. I was irritated with the ringing phone when a topic of such seriousness was being discussed and for which specifically I had come to the site. I regret that I lost my cool and have expressed the same to MMC's Chief Officer."
"Throw away the phone," the Deputy Chief Minister shouts in the viral video, after slapping the ringing phone out of the government officer's hand to the ground. The officer then immediately picks up the phone.
"You do not do any work. You are useless and your chairperson is also useless," the minister is also heard purportedly saying in the viral video.
Sardesai and other officers were inspecting a garbage dump in South Goa when the episode happened.
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