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* GPCC President Luizinho Faleiro reiterated that Congress continues to have faith in the parents of Goa and hence, stands by their freedom to choose the Medium of Instruction for their wards
* “Parents of Goa are educated and we leave it to them to decide the MoI for their children”, he said.
UPHOLDS FREEDOM
OF PARENTS ON MOI
* Congress sought to clarify that it views the issue of MoI as distinct from the debate surrounding the Official Language Act
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ON BABUSH-SURENDRA BONHOMIE
Luizinho Faleiro refused to comment. Also, remained silent on whether the party would support such eligible candidates if they were a part of the Babush panel
ON DEFENCE EXPO LAND
The Congress objected to handing over 150 acres of land in Quittol-Betul to the Defence Ministry. The decision was termed as ‘a cruel joke on Goans and a tragedy for Goa’
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PANAJI
The Goa Pradesh Congress Committee on Tuesday announced its executive committee decision not to participate on party lines in the elections to the Corporation of City of Panaji scheduled to be held on March 6.
Poriem MLA Pratapsing Rane, Valpoi MLA Vishwajit Rane, Cumbarjua MLA Pandurang Madkaikar, Subhash Shirodkar, AICC general secretary and Congress’ Fatorda observer Girish Chodankar, GPCC vice president M K Shaikh, Rajya Sabha MP Shantaram Naik and other office bearers of GPCC were among the attendees of the executive committee meeting.
Explaining the decision taken at the meeting of the executive committee, GPCC President Luizinho Faleiro stated, “Congress will not participate in the CPP elections on party lines. However, we will identify and support good candidates with secular ideology and we will oppose the BJP candidates.”
Faleiro refused to comment on the reports of former Congress MLA Antanasio ‘Babush’ Monserrate and former Panaji mayor and Congressman Surendra Furtado joining hands for the CCP polls. He also chose to remain silent on whether the party will support such eligible candidates if they were a part of the Babush panel.
Furtado, it was informed, had excused himself from the executive committee meeting owing to demise of a family member.
Meanwhile, Congress executive committee strongly objected to the decision of the State government to hand over 150 acres of land in Quittol-Betul to the Defence Ministry for organizing DefExpo. The decision was termed as ‘a cruel joke on Goans and a tragedy for Goa’.
“If you compare allotment of land to defence ministry proportionately with the land available in a State, Goa’s is among the highest in the country,” Faleiro said, dismissing the allegations of unpatriotic view in denying the allotment.
He further held that if the government holds its own word to the defence ministry in such high regards, the State government should also ensure that the navy honours its own word by handing over around 15 acres of land in Dabolim.
Faleiro urged Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar to take up the cause of Goans with the naval authorities and ensure that the land is not handed over to the armed forces, even for three days. “They plan to construct around 10,000 mts of runway for the DefExpo. Do we know the ecological impact of this? Faleiro questioned.
It was disclosed that the Congress manifesto for the upcoming Assembly polls will focus on issues of casinos, mining truckers, mining and employment among others.
Faleiro applauded MGP Ponda MLA Lavoo Mamledar for questioning his own government about the promised generation of 50,000 jobs in the State.
Referring to the newly unveiled IT Policy, Faleiro said, “The government has launched the IT policy when the IT industry is going down. We don’t know if it will even see the light of the day.”
Congress also criticized the move of the State Cabinet to amend the Preservation of Trees Act 1984, by which the coconut tree would lose its status of a tree in Goa. Faleiro said, “The government is trying to weaken the legislation brought in by the erstwhile Congress government.”
