The trade unions are demanding that the government should take over their entire loan liabilities through economic development corporation (EDC) and offer soft loans.
“The CM along with his MLAs from the mining belt had promised at the time of Lok Sabha election campaign that his government will make us debt free. Is this a way to make us debt free? Indirectly telling us to committee suicide by selling our assets?” GMPF convener Adv Suhaas Naik questioned.
Strongly objecting to the chief minister’s statement, Naik said that if government does not have enough funds then it should ask for a Rs 3,000 crore financial package from the Central government to settle their claims. “If mining-dependent people had 65 percent of their loan amount or wanted to sell their assets then they would have not waited for government relief. They would have done it much in advance. They had faith in the government, which has now betrayed them,” CPI Goa secretary Christopher Fonseca said. Fonseca said that government should immediately redraft the entire scheme.
