The Goa Legis lative Assembly was ad journed twice on Friday after Opposition members, dressed in black attire and displaying placards, rushed to the Well of the House to protest the non-listing of the Goa Protection of Ag ricultural Lands Bill, 2026 on the agenda for Private Members’ Day. Even before Speaker Ga nesh Gaonkar could begin the Question Hour, Opposi tion legislators created an uproar demanding to know why their private mem bers’ bills, particularly the Goa Protection of Agricul tural Lands Bill, were not included in the day’s agen da, which was reserved for Private Members’ business. As the members contin ued shouting slogans and refused to return to their seats, the Speaker direct ed the marshals to remove them from the House and adjourned the proceedings for 10 minutes. When the House reas sembled after the brief adjournment, the ruckus continued. Fatorda MLA Vijai Sarde sai had also moved an ad journment motion seeking suspension of all rules to discuss the Goa Protection of Agricultural Lands Bill, 2026. He stressed the ur gent need to safeguard Goa’s rapidly shrinking agricultural land and preserve it for future generations. The Speaker informed the members that their bills had been sent to the departments concerned for scrutiny and urged them to return to their seats. How ever, the Opposition con tinued raising slogans such as “Karo ya maro”, “Amche Goem Amka Jaay”, “Band Kao Band Karo”, “Hukum Shahi Band Kara”, and “We want justice.” With the Opposition members refusing to re lent, the Speaker adjourned the House for a second time for 30 minutes. Later, Opposition MLAs alleged that as many as 16 pri vate members’ bills moved by them had not been allowed to be listed in the Assembly, triggering the protest. Among them, Sardesai had moved five bills, Venzy Viegas three, while Cruz Silva and Adv Carlos Alvares Ferreira had moved one bill each. Stating that it is the duty of MLAs to introduce legisla tion, the Opposition members said that the non-listing of important private members’ bills related to issues such as gambling and land conversion amounted to injustice to de mocracy. “In the last four years, we have learnt how to draft bills to reduce the burden on the people, but the government is not giving us an opportunity to table them by not listing the bills for discussion in the agenda,” Viegas said
‘Black Friday’ for House: Blocked bills cause disruptions
