MARGAO
Governor P S Sreedharan Pillai on Wednesday unveiled plans to throw open the Raj Bhavan for the children housed in orphanages and children’s homes, while also committing to use the Governor’s discretionary fund to support these institutions.
He has now extended invitations to the children from these homes to join him for food at the governor’s palace.
That’s not all. The governor said, “Let the Raj Bhavan be the coordinating centre for the people of Goa from all walks of life, irrespective of party affiliations, whether BJP, Congress or other parties.”
A day when he hopped from one orphanage to another and an old-age centre in South Goa on Wednesday, the governor said he is seriously thinking of promoting the literary and artistic talent of children housed in the orphanages and children’s homes. “The talent of these children needs to be given wings and I have told the orphanages to work in this direction,” he added.
The Governor visited the Missionaries of Charity, Fatorpa, Lar de Santa Terezinha, Pajifond-Margao and Matruchhaya Balika Kalyan Ashram-Margao.
“With my experience as a public worker and as a governor, I want cooperation from people from all walks of life, be they Hindus, Muslims or Christians or belonging to any political party,” he said after visiting the South Goa district hospital.
Compared to Mizoram, where he was the governor for two years, Pillai said Goa is far ahead of the Northeastern state and ranks among States having highest per capita income. Asserting that Goa was a world tourist destination, the governor said tourism can be further promoted with the cooperation of all sections of the people. “Goa enjoys communal harmony. There are no communal riots here. This is one state where there’s a common law, both civil and criminal, for all people,” he said.
He added: “As part of my duty as governor, I am more interested in going to the people. I want to use the governor’s fund for the poor people and the common man. When I was the governor in Mizoram for two years, I had used the funds for the poor interior areas of that state.”
He announced a donation of Rs one lakh to each of the three institutions he visited on Wednesday and also committed Rs 25,000 for the dialysis of the patients.
Saying he has invited the children from the two orphanages he visited today to the Raj Bhavan, Pillai avered these children also feel they too are part and parcel of Goan society.
Wherever he visited, the governor invited the local MLAs, including Deputy CM Chandrakant Kavlekar at Fatorpa, Digambar Kamat at Pajifond and Vijai Sardesai at Fatorda.
