PANAJI
Congress on Friday criticised the three BJP Members of Parliament from Goa for their abject failure to prevail on the Union Ministry of Road Transport, Highways and Shipping over the issue of expansion of coal handling capacity at Mormugao Port Trust.
Speaking at Congress House in Panaji, Goa Pradesh Congress Committee general secretary Adv Yatish Naik stated, "All three BJP MPs from Goa have been silenced or muted by their bosses. They ought to have articulated the wishes of Goans in New Delhi. They ought to have prevailed on Gadkari against the decision to allow companies to handle coal at MPT."
He criticised Goa's Lok Sabha MPs Shripad Naik and Adv Narendra Sawaikar as well as the Rajya Sabha MP Vinay Tendulakr and said, "There has been zero performance from the three BJP MPs. We have not heard them utter a single word in the Parliament on this issue."
In addition to this, Adv Naik stated that Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar's assurances to the people of Vasco bear no meaning considering his legacy of U-turns.
"BJP government of Goa should oppose in writing instead of talking," Adv Naik argued.
He further pointed out that the Sagarmala masterplan for MPT was prepared for the Ministry of Shipping and Indian Ports Association. The masterplan states that the optimistic scenario projection for coking coal is 21 million metric tonnes per annum up to 2025 and 40 million metric tonnes per annum up to 2035.
"The report was authored at the instance of the union govt. Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari and MPT should declare in writing that they will respect sentiments of Goans against the expansion of coal handling at MPT," he said.
