MARGAO
On the completion of one year as Member of Parliament, South Goa MP Capt Viriato Fernandes cautioned outsiders buying properties in Goa, sending a message loud and clear that the people of Goa will never allow them to go for constructions in fields, forests, and in no-development zones.
He also conveyed a clear message that the people of Goa will not sit quietly if any political leader, irrespective of political affiliations, works against the interests of Goa and Goans.
The South Goa MP reaffirmed his unwavering commitment to championing not only his constituents' interests but all of Goa's pressing concerns while advancing the nation's prosperity. He expressed certainty that through continued public support, much could be achieved in the coming years.
Addressing the media in the presence of South Goa District Congress Chief Savio D’Silva and party block presidents from South Goa, the MP highlighted the issues he had raised in Parliament since his election to the Lok Sabha on June 4 last year.
“My message to political leaders is simple. We are all Goans and we will not see which party a leader belongs to if he is working against the interest of Goa. We have not come here to do politics,” he asserted.
During his one year in office, Viriato said he had raised the issue of political reservations for the STs in Parliament, saying he had received full support from his party leader Rahul Gandhi. “I had raised the issue of Mhadei diversion during a discussion on the Disaster Management Bill, when the party had drafted me for the discussion since I was a 2004 Tsunami survivor during my posting in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands,” he said.
Saying he had raised Dabolim airport closure on the floor of Lok Sabha, Viriato said the airport’s closure would leave 3.40 lakh people directly dependent on it without a livelihood. Taking up cudgels for the tourist taxi operators, the MP wondered whether the Tourism Minister is aware of how the operators eke out a living. “Don’t paint all Goan taxi operators with the same brush,” he cautioned.
The MP said the people of Goa will fight to get the entire shoreline from Pernem to Canacona back under local government control, saying the Mormugao Port Authority is working for the interests of corporates.
