PANAJI
The Congress, on Thursday, released its Goa manifesto at the Congress headquarters at Panaji. The Leader of Opposition (LoP) Chandrakant Kavlekar and other MLAs and party leaders were present at the release.
The Goa manifesto, which is in continuation of the Congress 2017 manifesto, promises to "restart mining activities in a sustainable manner "within the framework of the Supreme Court judgement and Mines and Minerals Act 1957."
Also high amongst the promises is a law that will "preserve Goa's land and identity."
Formalin-free fish, de-notification of the nationalised rivers, protection of Goa's coastlines and livelihoods of the traditional fishing community, more transparency of the utilisation of funds received under the MPLAD, and a review and audit of the Seafarers Welfare Fund Society (SWFS) are the other promises made by the party.
Under the SWFS, the party has said it will "explore the option of restoring and enhancing the monthly ex-gratia monetary assistance (MEMA) scheme."
Speaking at the release, Congress president Girish Chodankar said that chemical-free fish for the people would be a priority.
"The party will make a foolproof provision for this with the help of the Centre," said Chodankar.
"We'll denotify the nationalised rivers which the BJP brought in without consulting anyone only to help the Adanis," he said.
Speaking on the law to protect Goa's identity, he said, "All Goans feel like their identity is going to be lost. We will persuade the Parliament to pass a law along the lines of Himachal Pradesh where Goans will get some relief and their identity will be protected."
On MPLAD, Chodankar said that the party would make the schemes more transparent and people-oriented rather than MP-oriented.
And finally, on the resumption of mining activities in the state, former CM and Congress MLA Digambar Kamat said that the mining issue under the BJP had been like "Aiz yeta, falyan yeta, pava-pavana," with the latest promise to resume mining made by Suresh Prabhu.
He, however, said that the Congress would make sure it restarted.
