Cong urges govt to appoint heads to GKA, IMB and KA, threatens protest

The Goan Network
Panjim
The government's failure to provide a president for the Goa Konkani Akademi (GKA) four months after the Congress demanded one, has now led the Congress to reiterate their demand, failing which they will hold a morcha to the Directorate of Official Language in the first week of January.
Addressing media persons at the Congress headquarters on Tuesday, Congress spokesperson Amarnath Panjikar said that not only GKA, even Institute Menezes Braganza (IMB) and Kala Academy were suffering from the government's negligence to appoint a president and vice-president respectively.
"We demand that the government appoint a president for GKA and IMB, and a vice president for Kala Academy at the earliest, as the Konkani language, and art and culture are suffering terribly due to no proper organisational structure in these bodies that were formed to promote our official language, art and culture," said Panjikar.
Panjikar also said that the Opposition party had refrained from organising a protest rally earlier, as Sneha Morajkar, who holds temporary charge of GKA, had assured them that things would be set right soon.
However, even after four months, there has been no solution to the GKA situation, and the Academy hasn't given out awards in years.
The Bhasha Seva Puraskar hasn't been awarded for the year 2016, 2017, and 2018, Panjikar pointed out, as he said it was evident that the government had given no thought to taking the Akademi forward.
Moreover, the proposal to increase the stipend of the Kala Samman, given to deserving candidates, from Rs 1,300 to Rs 1,500 per month has still not come into effect, said Panjikar and urged the government to do so at the earliest.