The Opposition on Wednesday embarrassed the government by pointing out that the website of the Goa Official Language Department is not in Konkani. Only 12 government department websites are in Konkani out of the over 100 websites which are all in English. Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant assured that many more websites will be in Konkani by February 4. the official Language Day. He also assured to revive the Advisory Board for Enhancement of the Official Language. The Opposition also questioned the commitment of the government to the Konkani language due to the declining funding of the Goa Konkani Academy and other Konkani-related organizations.
Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said there is no penal action in the Official Language Act for not using Konkani. The Opposition demanded to amend the act to introduce penal action. The Opposition also pointed out that former Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar had in 2012 joined an agitation which said Konkani Zai, English why? But the BJP government had done nothing for Konkani till date.
