PANJIM: Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Sunday clarified that the Goa Yuva Samwad Yojana (GYSY) has not been scrapped but suspended for review.
Interacting with newspaper editors at a city hotel, Parrikar said, “There was a problem with Vodafone connection last one or two weeks and as such we had received a lot of complaints as the operator was not able to provide proper services.”
Hence, he added, “I have not stopped the scheme but (suspended) it for some time to fine-tune it and it will come back maybe after three or four months.”
“The Vodafone connectivity in Goa is very bad,” he said.
Parrikar said the scheme is being reviewed and many options are being explored.
“We can have Wi-Fi connectivity in all schools and colleges that could be another option. But definitely scheme is closed for review and not scrapped,” he said.
GYSY, launched just before the State Assembly elections in December, 2016 targeting the young electorate, was discontinued from July 1, within six months of its launch.
Government claims that the scheme was being ‘misused’ by the students and it also failed to serve the purpose of promoting information technology platform in the rural areas.
GYSY, launched by then Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar, provided free calling of upto 100 minute and internet data usage of upto 3GB for youth in the age group of 16-30 years.
As many as 32,000 students availed the benefit of the scheme, which was suppose to be in force for a period of three years – till December 2019.
However, on Friday late evening, the beneficiaries started receiving text messages stating “Government of Goa has decided to withdraw GYSY scheme which you have enrolled for with immediate effect from June 30 midnight.”
