Oppn MLAs pushed govt on back foot
- Yuri Alemao, Leader of Opposition
Four days of the Third Session of the Eighth Goa Legislative Assembly began on Opinion Poll Day. All Opposition MLAs pushed the government on the back foot and made a strong mark with our performance as compared to the earlier two sessions. Some ministers and ruling MLAs tried to boo at us with an intention to stop us from raising issues, but we were aware of their tactics, and pushed them to the wall.
We started well with our strong demand for the mention of “Mhadei First” in the Governor's address. Surprisingly, there was no mention of river Mhadei at all in his address. Our joint Calling Attention on the Effects of Sound Ban on traditional events also yielded results. The people of Goa understood the stand of the government. We have compelled the government to act and act fast. We played a constructive role of united opposition on issues concerning Goa and Goans, despite the limited time granted to the Opposition.
This session was not on a level playing field at all. It was 32 versus 7 excluding the Speaker. Rules were suspended and discussion on the Governor's address was reduced to two days. Bills were passed by bulldozing the democratic process. The Rule says every Bill should reach the MLA minimum of 48 hours before introduction in the house. We got them hardly 10 to 15 hours in advance with literally any scope remaining to study the same. We opposed various amendments to the original acts, but the government refused and passed all with a brute majority.
Govt was thoroughly exposed in House
- Vijai Sardesai, Goa Forward Party chief
It was a total loss of face for the government in spite of a depleted tally of Opposition and curtailing of the session. The government barely survived.
As I have already exposed, this government is an event-managed sarkar and this has also been revealed in the House wherein all other departments were enforcing austerity measures. The expenditure has been cut down by 20-25 per cent. I know that the Department of Information & Publicity was supposed to spend more than Rs 20 crore in the next three months on events and this is the reason I gave the name event managed sarkar.
The government was thoroughly exposed in the House for its lack of financial prudence for an administrative collapse and for being non-serious in its legislative duties. The manner in which Bills were bulldozed in the House without sending them to Select Committee and the reasons for which the Bills were passed, like, to benefit certain Bhauji, made a mockery of the legislative process. The government, which felt it was strong because of the defection from Congress to BJP, failed miserably in the House. They just survived the session by the skin of their teeth in spite of reducing working days and removing the private member's day.
Winter Assembly session an eyewash
- Viresh Borkar, RGP MLA
Terming the recently concluded Winter Assembly session as an eyewash, St Andre MLA Viresh Borkar slammed the government for trampling the voice of the Opposition.
When contacted by The Goan, Borkar said that in the first place, the winter session was reduced to only four days of which one day was reserved for the Governor’s speech.
“I had many issues to raise, and to highlight the same, LAQ is the best way as it allows a member to delve into any issue in detail. However, the irony was that it was a lottery of sorts as I got to speak only on the PWD issue in detail,” Borkar stated while adding that the ruling members would interrupt in the middle thereby scuttling his voice.
“Even on the Mhadei issue, when I tried to read RGP’s letter to PM, they did not allow and all 33 ruling members interfered,” Borkar said.
“Further, when my turn came to speak, I was constantly told to conclude. But when the ruling members spoke, there was no time limit for them,” Borkar opined.
“To sum it all up, the Assembly session was a mere eyewash and it was run in a biased manner wherein the voice of the Opposition was trampled,” the MLA charged.
Govt's intent not in favour of Goa, Goans
- Venzy Veigas, AAP MLA
The intent of the present government is not seen in favour of Goa and Goans, especially when we look at Mhadei. This makes it evident that the government is not concerned about all the affairs related to Goa.
The government tried its best to silence the Opposition by curtailing the Assembly session to four days and disallow asking additional questions. It is also strange the government restricted the MLAs to seek information only pertaining to the past five years when under the RTI Act, one can obtain information of many years. It's time that the government should stop LAQs and instead give way to Google Assembly questions because everything is available on the internet. Overall, the intent looks very biased, because all senior politicians have vested.
Moreover, the Environment should be the key manifesto for all the parties and it has to be gazed upon.
