Claims of in­ter­nal dis­agree­ments are emerg­ing with­in the Na­tion­al Coun­cil for In­di­an Cul­ture (NCIC) over its han­dling of spon­sor­ship arrange­ments for Di­vali Na­gar 2026, amid con­cerns by some board mem­bers that the de­ci­sion to bring Blue Wa­ters on board could be per­ceived as a po­lit­i­cal state­ment against the Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar ad­min­is­tra­tion.

Days af­ter re­ports emerged that sev­er­al state cor­po­rate en­ti­ties had with­drawn their spon­sor­ship from the 2026 Di­vali Na­gar, the Na­tion­al Coun­cil of In­di­an Cul­ture (NCIC) yes­ter­day an­nounced that Blue Wa­ters had come on board as a Di­a­mond Spon­sor for this year’s cel­e­bra­tions. And the com­pa­ny says it is proud to as­sist in pre­serv­ing T&T’s cul­tur­al lega­cy.

Fi­nance Min­is­ter Dav­en­dranath Tan­coo has ad­mit­ted that an er­ror was made in the 2027 Bud­get al­lo­ca­tion for the To­ba­go Re­gion­al Health Au­thor­i­ty (TRHA), while as­sur­ing that the au­thor­i­ty will re­ceive enough fund­ing to meet its op­er­a­tional ex­pens­es.

The Gov­ern­ment’s al­lo­ca­tion for the To­ba­go House of As­sem­bly’s (THA) Tourism and Hos­pi­tal­i­ty Sec­tor sup­port pro­gramme has been re­duced by 80 per cent for 2027, while sev­er­al tourism-re­lat­ed en­ti­ties linked to To­ba­go Car­ni­val have al­so re­ceived low­er al­lo­ca­tions.