PANAJI
Flaunting the highest per-capita income tag Goa retains, the Governor P S Sreedharan Pillai on Tuesday devoted much of his Tuesday's address to the Goa legislative assembly to highlight achievements of the previous Pramod Sawant government in various sectors and also underscore the priority given to the tourism sector.
Addressing the newly elected members of the Assembly, Pillai said, the government has been focused on providing quality infrastructure for tourists.
"My government is making efforts to promote and encourage more international chartered flights, 'International Charter Support (waiver of landing fees) 2021' scheme has been notified by way of waiving landing fees up to Rs 1 lakh," Pillai said.
Pillai also mentioned that Goa has the highest per capita income in India.
"The State per capita income is Rs 5.04 lakh for the year 2020-21 which is highest in the country, portraying a robust and healthy economy," Pillai said, adding that the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) at current prices for 2020-21 was Rs 78,337.92 crore showing a growth rate of 4.69% compared to the 2019-20 numbers.
Excise revenue too was at Rs 561.25 crore for financial year 2021-22 up to February this year, Pillai said as against Rs 514.91 crore mopped up in 2020-21. In 2019-20 it was 491.83 crore, he said.
Pillai listed various concessions the State government gave to sustain industry impacted by the pandemic.
The Goa Investment Promotion Board granted in-principle approvals to 219 projects totalling a Rs 16,074.80 crore investment and potential to generate 39,241 jobs, he said.
Under the 'Swayampurna Goa-Susampanna Gao' initiative, Pillai said, more than 1,900 programmes were held in which 24,235 people benefited.
On the policing front, Pillai said, the State was striving hard to make it safe for both citizens and tourists even as the overall crime detection rate stood at 82.85% in 2021. He also said that efforts are on to make Goa an 'accident free' State.
The governor mentioned that the State had the best health indicators and quoted birth rate, death rate, infant and maternal mortality rate, total fertility rate and institutional deliveries as some of the parameters in which Goa excels.
Pillai said the Forest Survey of India Report 2020, shows forest and tree cover ratio of Goa is about 67% and added that efforts to increase green cover through plantation of 5 lakh saplings in non-forest land are on.
On mining, the governor said efforts were on to resume mining even as a total royalty from both major and minor minerals earned by the State stood at Rs 116.12 for 2021-22 until January 31 this year.
Pillai said, 27 e-auctions of mineral ore lying at various locations were conducted and 16.03 million tonnes of ore sold.
