MARGAO: Claiming that lovers of Konkani in Roman script are facing difficulties as far as teaching and learning is concerned Alliance of Romi Konkani Associations (ARKA) have requested the Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant to amend the Goa Official Language Act and bestow equal status to Konkani in Roman script along with Devnagri in the Act.
Recently, the delegation of Alliance of Romi Konkani Associations consisting of Tomazinho Cardozo, Premanand Lotlikar, Fausto Da Costa, Mathew Julius D’Costa and Anthony Menezes along with Minister for Public Works Department Nilesh Cabral, met the Chief Minister and placed before him the difficulties faced by the lovers of Konkani in Roman script as far as teaching and learning of Konkani in Roman script in the schools in Goa is concerned.
The delegation brought to the notice of the Chief Minister that no school in Goa teaches Konkani in Roman script because the Goa Official Language Act of 1987 recognises Konkani only in Devnagri script and hence the first step to give justice to Konkani in the Roman script will be to amend the Goa Official Language Act of 1987 to give equal status to Konkani in Roman script along with Devnagri script.
The Chief Minister was apprised of the fact that the bloody language agitation of 1987 was fought to make Konkani the Official Language of Goa and not Konkani in the Devnagri script.
“A huge percentage of lovers of Konkani, for centuries, read and write Konkani in the Roman script while a minuscule percentage of Goans read and write in Devnagri script. Therefore, both scripts, Romi and Devnagri, should have been considered in the Goa Official Language Act of 1987. However, the followers of Romi script Konkani were betrayed and only Devnagri script was given the official status,” the ARKA stated.
The delegation further requested the Chief Minister to amend the Goa Official Language Act and bestow equal status to Konkani in Roman script along with Devnagri in the Act. This will provide official status to Konkani in Roman script and the difficulties faced by Roman Konkani will be solved in all the fields such as education, literature, etc.
Sawant gave a patient hearing to the delegation and assured them that he will study the matter properly and take a decision accordingly.
