the goan I network
PANAJI
Goa Assembly Speaker Pramod Sawant on Friday sent the proposal mooted by the State government to hold a 3-day budget session of the Goa legislative assembly on January 29, 30 and 31 to the Governor Mridula Sinha for the process of summoning the House.
The session assumes significance as it will give the Manohar Parrikar-led government an opportunity to present populist schemes and proposals in the State budget for the 2019-20 fiscal ahead of the Mandrem and Shiroda by-polls and the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
The brief three-day session will also allow the government to put up a pretence of transparency and performance in the face of continuous attack from the Opposition Congress for administrative non-performance and lack of transparency on account of ailing Parrikar’s absence from office.
However, with two of the three days of the session likely to be used for customary Governor’s address and the budget presentation, there will be just one day for MLAs to transact business by which they can hold the government to legislative accountability.
The lack of sufficient business time could become a bone of contention and spike the acrimony between the government and the Opposition during the proceedings of the Business Advisory Committee for the finalisation
of the agenda.
