Confident of getting a lead in CM’s Sanquelim: Girish

PANJIM: Congress’ North Goa candidate Girish Chodankar is confident of taking a lead in Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant’s constituency of Sanquelim.

Around 200 people gathered to welcome the Congress candidate who began his day’s campaign in the Assembly constituency from Shree Shantadurga Saunsthan in Betal, Amona at around 10.30 am in the morning. Alongwith the villagers, Girish visited the temple and sought the blessings of the deity as he began his campaign.

Pitching for a lead from the constituency, Girish said “The Chief Minister needs to be given the message that the people are actually suffering under this government and that is possible only by way of voting against the BJP.”

The gathering, which had a high number of women, assured Chodankar to work in the village and ensure maximum voting for Congress.

Girish during the day’s campaign travelled through the villages of Surla, Navelim, Velgem before hitting the Sanquelim town and concluding the day with a public meeting in a hall near the market. While campaigning, he did not miss the local temples and meet villagers living around these temples, given the importance of the temples in these villages. Every temple visit meant a corner meeting with an attendance between 20 – 100 people. 

Even as Girish promised to resolve the mining issue, women in the area emphasised that their greatest concern is employment for their family members. 

Accompanied by local leaders, party workers gathered in a community hall in Surla. 

Locals had a single demand, resumption of mining activities at the earliest. A middle aged man extending support and demanding resumption of mining in return said “We had expected that the mining activities would resume atleast now but since the last six years we are waiting. After such a long dependency on mining and the sudden closure, we are yet to recover from aftershocks. We want to request you that atleast you should restart mining activities so that we will have some employment.”

Even at 2.30 in the afternoon, people were waiting at a community hall in Navelim village to receive the Congress candidate. However, in this village a group of local farmers gathered to demand the early solution of the Alvara land issue.

“Our biggest struggle is the land issues of the farmers. Cases have been shifted to the Deputy Collector and a sum of Rs 3.5 crores is deposited but none of the cases have been resolved. In 2007, there were 700 farmers who had submitted their documents and there are another 700 who could not because of the time limitation. When and from who do we expect justice”, questioned a farmer. 

Employment remains a major issue and women expressed most difficulties as families face income issues. Mining affected are upset with incumbent MP as well as the MLA, in this case, the Chief Minister for having failed to restart mining activities.

Girish is confident that being from the Bahujan Samaj, the community is backing him and he has promised the mining affected bahujan that the new government under the Congress leadership will resolve the mining issue.

 “Teach BJP a lesson through your vote. You need to crumble their ‘dadagiri’ (arrogance) that irrespective what may happen, people will vote for BJP. They only understand poll losses. So by giving me a lead in the CM’s Constituency ensure Congress’s victory in the North Goa,” he said.