Team Herald
BICHOLIM: Asking the Goans to wake up, Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant said on Saturday that Goans, the tourists and the migrants are equally beneficent to each other.
Speaking at the customer outreach programme of banks and financial institutions at Ravindra Bhavan Sanquelim, he said, “In this little Goa, more than 60 lakh tourists arrive; and another more than 60 lakh migrants come. Those who came here and settled here became Goans; and my words should not be taken in a wrong sense. I am talking about those who come here for six months and then go back.”
“These migrants come from several States and how much benefit do we take from them?” Sawant questioned adding, “we give them business. It is very sad to say that even to stitch dresses of ladies there are migrants. Go to Mapusa market and there will be all Bangalis who stitch dresses.”
He expressed concern over the fact that the number of migrants is increasing in the State. “There is a need for the Goans to wake up. Today, we are totally dependents upon other States. Those things which we can make should not be brought from other States,” he emphasised.
He claimed that the government is ready to sell the products of artisans and give the training and loans.
Expressing regret that Goans have stopped their traditional businesses, Sawant said, “The organic rice from Goa has good market in the US. We are dependent upon neighbouring Karnataka for vegetables when we have several schemes for horticulture.”
