Panaji: Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar was stopped for frisking by a guard at a five star hotel here after the securityman failed to recognise him but the state head chose to keep a low profile and made light of the episode.
"The Gurkha (guard) at the main gate stopped me. This he did for the fifth time since I have become Chief Minister," he told a gathering at the hotel yesterday after the incident.
"I walked 200 metres and I told one of the staff to tell the guard that I am the Chief Minister of Goa. He did not know that I am the CM. And it is not necessary for him also to know that. Its okay," he said.
Parrikar was the chief guest for an event involving distribution of scholarship instituted by Goa Education Trust (GET), a joint initiative of state's two major companies? Dempos and Fomento Resources at the hotel.
The event was attended by various dignitaries including the hotel owner's son.
Since the time he took over as CM, Parrikar as part of his government's austerity measures, has been moving without police escort and is guarded by a lone police security officer (PSO).
Parrikar had said that the move to scale down his own security had paid off in the form of saving expenditure for the state exchequer.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, July 05, 2012, 15:01