MARGAO: Prime Minister Narendra Modi via video conferencing with booth workers from South Goa on Sunday said that the Central and State governments are working to find a judicial solution to mining issue in Goa.
As soon as he was welcomed for the video conference by Member of Parliament Narendra Sawaikar, the Prime Minister said he was confident that the Goa mining issue would be solved soon and pointed out that since the Supreme Court order led to closure of mining activity a “judicial solution” will have to be found.
He said he was aware of the mining crisis in the state and the adverse affect it has had on those dependent on it.
“The people working in the (state’s) mining sector are worried and it is natural for them to feel this way. We will work out whatever judicial solutions there are for the problem,” PM Modi said.
“We are trying to find out ways (to solve the issue). The Centre and the state state government, as well as MPs, are working towards it,” he told the gathering, adding that experts were also being spoken to in this regard.
“We want to save the livelihood of the poor. I am also monitoring social media. I would like to say that the crisis was due to the SC judgement. We will try to find a way out because it (mining) is an important element in Goa’s economy,” the prime minister said.
Modi also wished ailing Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar a speedy recovery and called him the “architect of modern Goa”.
“I would like to wish my good friend and Goa’s popular CM and architect of modern Goa, Manohar Parrikar, a speedy recovery. The way he has been working and his zeal towards work has been an inspiration for a party worker like me,” he said.
Appealing BJP workers to strengthen the booths, Modi said the party has given respect to the word ‘worker’.
“Due to earlier governments, the image of a worker was that of a ‘dalal’ (middleman). But, the image of BJP workers is that of ‘maa Bharati ke lal’ (patriots),” he added.
Around 5000 booth workers from South Goa had gathered at the Multipurpose Ground for the video conference which commenced at around 12.45 pm and ended at around 2.30 pm where Modi was directly interacting with booth workers at six places in Maharashtra and one in Goa.
Prominent amongst those present were Mauvin Godinho, Milind Naik, Nilesh Cabral, Vinay Tendulkar, Alina Saldanha, Sadanand Shet Tanavade, Subhash Phal Dessai, Rajan Naik, Subhash Shirodkar and Navnath Naik.
