Team Herald
PANJIM: The Opposition parties on Thursday slammed Chief Minister Pramod Sawant for claiming that NITI Aayog data of unemployment in Goa was wrong and only 20,000 are unemployed in the State.
Reacting sharply to the statement made by Sawant, Chief Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) president Amit Patkar said, “Great to see CM Pramod Sawant ridiculing NITI Aayog headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on its report of 1.10 lakh unemployed in Goa. You are a genius who invented 102% Covid vaccination theory. BJP need to reward you soon. Shakha education at its best. I urge BJP to reward him for his brilliancy.”
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Goa observer and coordinator Clyde Crasto demanded to know whether Chief Minister Pramod Sawant was saying that the NITI Aayog is not doing its job correctly. “The truth is, either the Goa government has failed to provide the correct data to the Central government or it is trying to hide the unemployment data in the State by saying that these people have got jobs elsewhere and have not cancelled their name,” Crasto said.
“If the chief minister knows that 80,000 people have got jobs elsewhere then he must bring those details out in public domain and also correct the unemployment data in the State Employment Exchange. If not, it will mean that Sawant is trying to prove the NITI Aayog wrong only to hide his government's failure to provide jobs to the people of Goa,” Crasto added.
Goa Trinamool Congress Party (TMC) media coordinator Trajano D’Mello said that the chief minister has played `jumla’ over unemployment scenario in the State. Pointing to Civil Supplies Minister Govind Gaude’s statement that there are 37,000 BPL card holders in the State, he asked, “Is the chief minister trying to tell us that people are gainfully employed and are yet falling under BPL category. Telling lies is like building your foundation of your position on sand.”
Trajano has appealed to the Chief Minister to face the truth and that the people of Goa will support him. But by bluffing the people, he is creating problems for himself and taking the State to disaster. The Chief Minister should stop fooling the people of Goa, he said.