the goan I network
MARGAO
South Goa MP Francisco Sardinha on Tuesday questioned the government for reserving 60 per cent of the Zilla Panchayat seats for the March 22 election, asserting that no reservation can cross the 50 per cent mark under any circumstances.
Slamming the government for working out the reservation without any rationale or sound principle, the South Goa MP wondered how come certain seats have been continuously reserved, thereby violating the very principle of reservations.
Addressing the media, the South Goa MP demanded to know from the government how can as many as 30 out of the 50 ZP seats have been reserved for the coming election. “It is indeed unfortunate that the government has come out with reservations when it cannot cross the 50 per cent figure. The government has arbitrarily carried out the reservations without applying sound principles,” he added.
Sardinha referred to the reservation of the Velim Zilla Panchayat seat for the fourth time in a row, demanding to know whether it has been done as per the law. “No seat can be reserved for more than two times. But, in the case of Velim, the seat has been continuously being reserved since 2005. At other places, seats such as Guirdolim have been reserved continuously three times,” he said.
Commenting on the ongoing contentious Citizens Amendment Act (CAA), Sardinha demanded that the government should reconsider the decision. “People have been agitating against the CAA for the last two months. Even educated people have hit the streets to oppose the amendment, but the government does not care for the public opinion,” he said.
Expressing concern over growing violence on the issue, the MP said the situation should not lead to a civil war, which would be very bad for the country. Sardinha, however, said that people have no right to take the law in their hands and condemned agitations with guns in the national capital.
On the Mhadei issue, the MP said he had a meeting with the Union Minister for Water Resources to discuss the issue, demanding that Chief Minister Pramod Sawant should show urgency to safeguard the interest of Goa and the people. “Mhadei is the lifeline of Goa, but they say that water from the river flows down to the Arabian sea. This is not true. We have to protect Mhadei,” he said.
