MARGAO
In a significant boost to the ongoing campaign for Konkani in Roman script, Velim MLA Cruz Silva, along with most of the sarpanchas and panch members of village panchayats in the Velim constituency, on Friday openly expressed their support for the movement demanding equal status for Konkani in Roman script.
The Velim MLA, together with Velim sarpanch Veena Cardozo, Chinchinim Sarpanch Frank Viegas, Assolna Sarpanch Ivan, Ambellim Sarpanch Alex D’Silva, and Sao Jose de Areal Sarpanch Carmeena, told the media that they had decided to fully back the movement launched by the Global Konknni Forum in support of equal status for Konkani in Roman script.
He stated that the people of Velim were not against the Devnagari script but emphasized that they were merely demanding justice for Konkani in Roman script.
The Velim MLA took the opportunity to announce that he had written a letter to the Commissioner of Linguistic Minorities in New Delhi, drawing attention to the grave injustice done to Roman script by granting official status only to Konkani language in Devnagari script in Goa’s Official Language Act (OLA).
The Velim MLA pointed out that youths from the minority community were deprived of government jobs due to lack of knowledge of Devnagari, even though they could fluently write in Roman script.
