MARGAO: Claiming discrimination and injustice against ‘Romi Lipi’, the Village Panchayat of Curtorim passed a unanimous resolution during its gram sabha on Sunday, demanding equal recognition for Konkani in the Roman script alongside Devanagari.
The resolution called for an amendment to the official language act to grant equal status to both scripts, citing issues of linguistic equality and representation.
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The proposal for Romi Lipi to be included in the official language of Act, was proposed by Xavier Mascarenhas, Vice-President of Global Konknni Forum, and seconded by Arnaldo Crasto, the Curtorim coordinator of the Forum, which is leading this movement.
According to the proposal, which referred to the Forum’s initiative, the panchayat body will formally communicate this matter to the government.
The above resolution also included a request to the Commissioner of the Linguistic Minorities Commission of India to cease discrimination against the Roman script in Goa.
Soon after the gram sabha ended, Kennedy Afonso, President of the Forum thanked the Curtorim gram sabha members for unanimously passing the resolution, which he said will help their fight in a big way.
Afonso also thanked the three other gram sabhas in Goa, namely Calangute Panchayat, Penha De Franca panchayat and St Estevam panchayat for passing similar resolutions on Sunday, as well as the Navelim gram that had passed the same resolution last Sunday.
In another matter, the gram sabha member opposed the holding of Sunburn festival in South Goa unanimously as well.
Curtorim MLA Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco also attended the gram sabha, and addressed various concerns and demands of the public.
There was another major discussion on other topics central to the village, such as the management of the panchayat’s finances and also the implementation of a new waste management exercise that will focus on the collection and disposal of all forms of sanitary waste.
The burial ground issue was also discussed at the meeting.
