CANACONA: The long standing demand for assimilation of Konkani speaking areas of North Karnataka into Goa is gaining momentum as Goa Konkani Rajya Ekikaran Manch (GKREM) is in final process of taking signatures of prominent leaders from the talukas of Karwar and Joida on a memorandum to be sent to the Prime Minister of India shortly.
Speaking on the fresh impetus to merge Karwar and Joida talukas with Goa, Asha Palankar, convenor of GKREM said these two talukas belong to Goa and Goa should reclaim its land which is full of natural resources.
The memorandum which is being circulated amongst prominent leaders of the talukas of Karwar and Joida for their signatures states, “If Goa is a Konkani speaking State, then all people of contiguous (sharing a common border) Konkani speaking areas, have natural right to be under Konkani State of Goa.”
“It was thought long back by our elders that Konkani identity like any other linguistic group in this country will be preserved in free India only if the principle of huge majority of Konkani speaking people living in and around the contiguous areas are brought under one state i.e., Goa” the convenor emphasised.
“Then it will be a truly Konkani State of Goa, like any other linguistic State in this country. This is nothing but natural culmination of process of formation of linguistic States of India,” she added.
While emphasising their demand the leaders of GKREM said the movement to have a separate Konkani State in fact had started before Liberation of Goa.
“Now it is 58 years, still we are carrying our elders’ wish, that is the merger of Karwar and Joida taluka’s into Goa,” the letter reads.
“In 1956, when State Reorganisation Commission (SRC) decided formation of States, on the basis of three directive principles, linguistic affinity, geographical continuity and administrative convenience, during that time Goa was under Portuguese rule so Konkani speaking areas of North Karnataka were kept in Karnataka and now since Goa is an Indian territory and a separate Konkani State, both Karwar and Joida should be merged with Goa,” she said.
Taking the argument of merger further, the leaders of the GKREM said their grievance is that since the transfer of these two talukas to Karnataka in 1956, Karnataka is taking harsh measures to destroy their Konkani language, script, culture and history in all fields and Kannada is being forced on them ignoring their wishes at the cost of their mother tongue that is Konkani.
It is pertinent to note also that since Kannada education is made compulsory in the schools at Karwar and nearby areas, hundreds of high school students from these places have enrolled themselves in the schools in Loliem-Polem.
The GKREM convenor said, “Goa has given shelter to 5 lakh Kannadigas, We are just 1.5 lakh Konkani speaking people, if Karwar and Joida are merged in Goa than it is a win-win situation for both.”
“Once Karwar and Joida are merged with Goa then Karwar port, River Kali dam, which has capacity to generate 1225MW of electricity, Kaiga Atomic Power Plant, which generates 880MW presently and another 1440 MW once 5th and 6th reactors come up, all these will come in Goa’s kitty” she informed.
Goa’s booming construction industry is facing sand shortage, and once Karwar and Joida are merged with Goa, River Kali will be the endless source of good quality sand to Goa and the list of benefits is endless, Palankar added.
“We are sure that our Prime Minister, who has dared to take great decisions in the past, will direct the authorities to merge Karwar and Joida with Goa shortly,” she hoped.
