PANJIM: Demanding that the three-day winter session of the State Legislative Assembly be extended by at least ten days, the Congress Legislative Party (CLP) on Friday resolved that the House should unanimously pass a resolution urging the Union government to revoke or denotify the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) Rules 2018 claiming that the implementation would be detrimental to the environment and traditional fishing communities.
Addressing media persons after the CLP meeting, Leader of the Opposition Chandrakant Kavlekar said he would take up the demand for extending the sitting of the House during the upcoming Business Advisory Committee (BAC) meeting. Kavlekar said that three days are not enough to discuss the problems faced by the people.
“We discussed about the Assembly session. The government is taking Goa backwards. Last year, the House sat for only 16 days and this year too, they have started with a three-day session,” he said, adding that the first day will have the Governor’s address and hence the MLAs will be left with only two days to table questions.
“The government has called for the Assembly for the sake of convening it,” he alleged, adding that it was responsibility of the government to call for a long session so that the issues are discussed. Goa Governor Mridula Sinha has summoned a three-day long Assembly Session from January 29 onwards.
Kavlekar said the CLP resolved that the House should debate the controversial CRZ notification 2018, which is detrimental to fishing communities whose livelihood is at stake. “House should be unanimous in urging Centre to de-notify the rules,” he said.
He added that the Chief Minister is on record during the last Assembly session that the new rules will not be applicable to Goa and hence the Opposition wants to seek further clarification from the government on the issue.
He said that the State government has failed to put across the objections raised by over a lakh of people to the draft CRZ rules before the Central government. “State has completely neglected public interest while trying to please its central leadership and their cronies,” Kavlekar charged.
