TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: The Opposition benches on Tuesday took on the ruling side for converting Zero Hour into a parallel Question Hour with Congress’s Dabolim MLA Mauvin Godinho objecting to the lengthy written replies being given by ministers to zero hour notices raised in the House Tuesday.
At the first instance Godinho objected to a reply being read out by Minister for Co-operation Pandurang Dipak Dhavalikar to an issue raised by his own party colleague Lavoo Mamledar on the fire that destroyed VPK Krishi Bazaar in Ponda constituency last month.
Thereafter Mamledar raised another issue on burning of bio-medical waste by the sub-district hospital at Ponda. Here again Godinho and Curtorim MLA Alexio Reginaldo Lourenco objected to a lengthy reply being read out by Environment Minister Alina Saldanha.
The Opposition insisted that reply to zero hour notices were meant to be brief.
The opposition legislators urged the speaker to give a ruling pointing out that this was setting a wrong precedent and legislators would start raising issues during zero hour as a parallel question hour.
The Speaker told the ministers to give brief replies which were thereafter complied with.
Dipak Dhavalikar said that the government was considering monetary relief to co-operative societies who suffer losses due to calamities as happened with VPK Bazaar in Ponda.
While Saldanha informed the House that the sub-district hospital has stopped burning bio-medical waste in its campus at Ponda and the Pollution Control Board would regularly inspect the hospital to ensure proper disposal of medical waste.
GCET: The government has said that in future GCET exams will be conducted as the NEET has been cancelled. Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar told the House that the government would decide on this by October 31 and that there was no need for parents and students to panic.
The issue was raised by Bicholim MLA Naresh Sawal during zero hour Tuesday.
Rent-a-car affecting tourist taxis: Calangute MLA Michael Lobo urged the transport ministry to take steps to ensure that local tourist taxi owners and drivers are not deprived of their livelihood due to the private rent-a-car business which was flourishing in the State. Lobo insisted that the private rent-a-car business should be registered.
In his reply, Transport Minister Ramkrishna Sudin Dhavalikar said, “This is a serious issue and we will look into it.”
Blood testing at GMC: Health Minister Laxmikant Parsekar refuted allegations of absence of proper blood testing and other medical tests at GMC, Bambolim. He said that various kinds of tests were done on patients admitted at the hospital and at the OPD.
