OLD GOA
The issue of demanding official status to Konkani in Roman script besides Nauxim marina project and tenant verification were among the major issues discussed at the Mandur gram sabha, on Sunday.
A local Francisco Fernandes raised the issue on the need to grant official status to Romi Konkani and demanded that a resolution to this effect be approved and sent to Commissioner of Linguistic Minorities, Delhi, to stop the discrimination done to Romi Konkani.
“Romi Konkani needs to be granted official status along with Devanagari Konkani by amending the Official Language Act,” Fernandes demanded.
Supporting the demand, Prof Wagh said that such a proposal was moved way back by late Vishnu Wagh when he was the MLA of St Andre.
“Wagh had spoken in the Assembly demanding official status to Romi Konkani but nothing has happened since then,” Wagh said and added that if Romi Konkani gets official language status it would help in the language flourishing in the State and beyond.
Marina project issue
Raking up the issue of marina, Prof Ramrao Wagh said that it would have severe effect on the marine life not only in Nauxim but within a radius of 10 km from the site.
“It includes even Mandur village and the project will affect the livelihood of the local fishermen who are dependent on the Zuari river to carry on their tradition,” Wagh stated while urging that the resolution to oppose marina should be sent to the authorities concerned, including the Chief Minister.
Tenant verification
Wagh then raised the issue of the need of tenant verification in the village and cited the recent incident wherein baby feet were found.
“The incident should have served as an eye-opener to the police on the need to undertake tenant verification in the village but sadly that has not happened,” Wagh lamented and demanded that such verification should be done on an urgent basis to prevent crimes from occurring.
