PANJIM: Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant on Monday called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and invited him to inaugurate the historic Aguada Jail, renovated and beautified under the Swadesh Darshan Scheme and to address all the village panchayats of Goa for undertaking the Atmanirbhar Swayampurna programme.
Sawant also briefed the Prime Minister on the current COVID-19 scenario in Goa and the ongoing preparations for the predicted third wave of Coronavirus.
If you enjoyed reading this article, you can help support our journalism by adding OHeraldo as a preferred source.
In a meeting with Union Minister for Tribal Affairs Arjun Munda, the CM was assured that the Union government will look into the long pending demand of including Gouli-Dhangar community in the Scheduled Tribes (ST) list.
A delegation from Goa headed by Sawant and comprising Deputy Chief Minister Babu Kavalekar, Social Welfare Minister Milind Naik, PWD Minister Deepak Pauskar, Speaker Rajesh Patnekar, Rajya Sabha MP Vinay Tendulkar and other government officials met Munda in New Delhi.
The Union Minister is learnt to have expressed his displeasure for having the issue pending for 30 years even after being the most deserving community and assured the Goa delegation that he will take up the issue with Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
The delegation later met Shah and discussed various issues of the State including giving ST status to the Gouli-Dhangar community in Goa.
Sawant later met newly-appointed Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Bhupendra Yadav and discussed various issues related to environment and forest in Goa.
The Chief Minister also met Minister of Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw and discussed implementation of the Bharat Net Fibre project in Goa.
Later in the evening, the Goa delegation met Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari and Union Minister of State General V K Singh and discussed various ongoing infrastructural works and reviewed them for speedy completion.
