18 Sep 2020  |   05:31am IST

Ensure Major Ports Authority Bill 2020 is scrapped, Goencho Avaaz urges MPs

Says if the ‘draconian’ bill becomes an Act then it will give MPT the authority to frame its own rules and override the existing rules of the State govt

Team Herald

VASCO: Goencho Avaaz (GA) has requested both North and South Goa Members of Parliament (MPs) to get the Major Ports Authority Bill 2020 scrapped. 

Alternatively, both the MPs, Shripad Naik who is also a Union Minister for AYUSH, and Francisco Sardinha, have been requested to move an amendment to exclude Mormugao Port Trust (MPT) from the list of ports as GA feels this bill is “draconian” and that if it becomes an Act then it will give authority to MPT to frame its own rules and override the existing rules of the State government.

GA claimed this Bill that the government intends to push through in Parliament, will sound the death knell for the villages in South Goa and a few others in North Goa. 

“The provisions in the bill allow some major ports in the country absolute authority to frame their own rules and regulations and even overrides the existing rules and regulations of the state government,” the organisation said.

GA submitted their objections to the bill by taking up the matter with the Minister for Shipping Mansukh Mandaviya. 

Further, GA said, “It is pertinent to note that certain sections provisioned in the bill viz. Sections 22(2), 22(3), 25 and 26(2) give explicit and exclusive powers to the port trust to have their own planning body and the rules framed by the latter overrides the rules and regulations entrusted to the local bodies like the panchayat, municipalities as well as State government.” 

Terming this particular provision as a means of creating a “State within a State”, GA said “If at all the bill is pushed through due to the brute majority enjoyed by the BJP, the Port Trust will even have the authority to lease land, built structures along the coast, demolish existing houses of the traditional Goan community, etc.”

GA expressed surprise as to why the two MPs from Goa remained mute spectators when the bill was introduced in March 2020, where as two senior Parliamentarians namely Shashi Tharoor from the INC and Saugata Ray from the TMC opposed the introduction of the bill charging the government of trampling upon the rights of the local bodies and should instead go to the drafting table to restudy the bill. Many local panchayats including Chicalim have passed resolutions opposing the Bill.

“The silence and careless attitude shown by the MPs and MLAs in Goa raises serious doubts about the commitment on the part of these elected representatives in saving the interests and rights of the State,” said GA, while adding that people won’t forgive them if they do not get the bill scrapped or amended in the interest of the State. 

GA warned that failure on the part of the MPs and MLAs will force them to expose the treacherous acts and fight for safeguarding the State interests.