MARGAO: PWD Minister Sudin Dhavalikar on Monday demanded to know whether the government can ban any outside institution or NGO from setting up an unit in the state, even as Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai has called for invocation of the provision of the Prevention of Unlawful Activities Act to ban the Ram Sene in Goa.
Speaking on the sidelines of the 26th National Road Safety week function at the Don Bosco Engineering College at Fatorda, Dhavalikar raised the question when the media asked him to shed light on the government’s delay in extending the ban on the Ram Sene’s entry into the state. “As far as Ram Sene is concerned, I would like to know whether the government in the first place can ban an outside institution or NGO from setting up an unit in the state. I do not want to comment on the issue since the Ram Sene has challenged the ban in the High Court”, Dhavalikar said.
When questioned further whether the government had taken the wrong decision by banning the Ram Sene, Dhavalikar said “that is another matter, let the court take a call on the issue”.
Asked whether he is in favour of lifting the ban on the Ram Sene, he shot back, “The matter is in the court. Let the court take a decision. Why should we intervene when the matter is in court?”
Meanwhile, Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai has demanded to know whether the Parsekar government will make another U-turn on Parrikar government’s decision to ban the Ram Sene. He demanded that the government should invoke the Prevention of Unlawful Activities Act against Ram Sene and petition to the Centre for Ram Sene’s ban.
“The government may say there’s a limit to issue orders under section 144 of the CrPC. But the government can certainly invoke the Prevention of Unlawful Activities Act to ban the Ram Sene. We cannot allow the Ram Sene to set up the base in Goa and destroy Goa’s social and secular fabric when tourism is at its lowest and fundamentalist organisations have raised the bogey of Ghar Vapasi”, Sardesai said.
