MARGAO
With PM Narendra Modi silent on touching on his 2014 election promise to consider giving Goa the Special Status, Power Minister Nilesh Cabral on Sunday said that the BJP leadership at the Centre has treated Goa as “special” by sanctioning thousands of crores of funds to usher in the development of the State.
And, Cabral said it is for the people of Goa to stop selling land instead of asking for Special
Status to protect the land
from being purchased by outsiders.
When the media sought to know from Cabral why the Prime Minister has not touched on the Special Status issue during his interaction, Cabral shot back saying, “I think the centre has given us funds to the tune of Rs 12,000 crore in the last four years. This had never happened in the history of liberated Goa. When I was heading GTDC, the corporation had received around Rs 300 crore. I think this is Special Status,” he said, adding “what is special is that the Centre has been recognizing Goa as a special state.”
When the media, however, drew his attention to the fact that the people of Goa have been asking for special status to protect their land from being bought by outsiders, Cabral said, “We can protect our land if Goemkars stop selling their land. We have to protect our land”.
When his attention was drawn to the fact that Goans have been
demanding Special Status not just for an economic package, but to protect their land from being bought by outsiders, the Power
Minister said “people have also been asking for an economic package and the Centre has been kind enough to sanction thousands of crores of funds to the State”.
