MARGAO: South Goa MP Francisco Sardinha has made a plea to the Chief Minister Pramod Sawant not to insist on paid quarantine for the seafarers, but instead set up a free institutional quarantine centre.
While complimenting the Chief Minister for setting in motion the process to bring the seafarers back, the MP further said that the government should not rest till all the seafarers stranded across the world are home.
Sardinha called up the Chief Minister on Wednesday morning to compliment him. “I conveyed to the CM my satisfaction on the move to bring back seafarers. And, I have told him that the government should not rest till the last seafarer is brought home,” he said.
On the controversy surrounding paid quarantine, the MP said he has told the CM to discontinue with it and instead provide free quarantine facilities.
When his attention was drawn to the South Goa district hospital facility which is now complete in all respects, Sardinha said the government should take immediate steps to set up a free quarantine facility there.
“I do not know why the government has not moved forward to set up the quarantine facility at the South district hospital,” Sardinha said.
When his attention was drawn to reports that the government may not want the district hospital to be converted into a Covid-19 quarantine facility in order to house a private medical college in a portion of the building, Sardinha asserted that the hospital should be utilized for what it was designated and conceptualized and not for any other purpose.
He also urged the Chief Minister to restart mining operations in the state to revive the struggling economy.
