TEAM HERALD
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PANJIM: The cessation of mining operations, the deteriorating law and order situation in view of the recent Vasco sexual assault case, and Mopa airport controversy took centre stage during the animated discussion during the motion of thanks to the Governor’s address.
MLAs from the mining belt ~ Pramod Sawant and Ganesh Gaonkar pitched for restarting ‘legal mining’ and chided those who had opposed the resumption, saying that they are against the interest of the state and people who depend on it.
“Are they really concerned about the State? There are some who are writing to the CEC,” Pramod Sawant said.
Ganesh Gaonkar did not hesitate to take the name of Curtorim MLA Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco, who had written to the member secretary of CEC when the State government decided to allow export of an ore consignment claimed to have been mined outside the state.
Those who are opposing the restart of mining should take a tour in mining affected areas, one of our MLAs, Reginaldo, wrote a letter to CEC member secretary, dated January 16, to stop the movement of ore and take necessary action till the Supreme Court decides on the issue. All MLAs should support the bid to restart mining, Gaonkar said, adding that around 3.5 lakh people are dependent on it and they are getting calls from banks to repay the loans.
The two MLAs also urged support for Mopa and accused those opposing Mopa of dividing the State.
Vishwajit Rane however questioned the definition of ‘legal mining.’
All of us are saying we should start legal mining, none of us know the definition of legal mining, junior Rane said. Vishwajit also said that the government should focus on developing alternative industry such as tourism and agriculture to compensate for mining.
In the Governor’s address, there is no thrust to tourism ministry, no alternatives, no thinking out of the box and no roadmap on how the State should move forward in the wake of the mining slowdown. There are no mention of marinas, which are the need of the hour, Vishwajit said, stressing that the speech should have included a roadmap to improve the tourism industry to stress on hinterland tourism, and compete with other destinations such as Bangkok, which were out-pricing Goa.
Vijai Sardessai raised the issue of the Vasco sexual assault on a school girl and reiterated that he was sporting a black bandana to protest against the police failure to nab the culprit involved in the case.
