MARGAO
The ongoing agitation of Goa Pradesh Mahila Congress against soaring prices of coconuts reached Agriculture Minister Vijai Sardesai’s backyard in Salcete, with the mahilas requesting the government and Sardesai to bring down the price of the staple food of Goans.
The Mahila Congress led by President Pratima Coutinho also took potshots at BJP mahilas for their silence on soaring prices of coconuts, demanding to know whether the latter have stopped using coconut for preparing food.
The Mahila Congress activists descended on the Nuvem market on Monday morning, making available a coconut for Rs 10 and Rs five, depending upon the size. “The government and the Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar do not appear to be interested in bringing down the prices of coconuts. What the Congress mahilas are doing ought to have been done by the government. People of Goa are not interested in mutton and biryani, but xitt-kodi and it’s increasingly becoming difficult to make the traditional Goan food for want of coconuts,” Pratima Said.
She urged the Agriculture Minister to probe into whether any mafia is hoarding coconuts to create an artificial scarcity and effect a price rise to make a windfall. “Don’t give us excuses that coconut pluckers are not available. School drop outs can be trained in the plucking activity,” she said.
Nuvem Mahila Block Congress President Lourdina Miranda said that people in general and women in particular are facing a big problem because of soaring prices of coconuts.
