PANAJI
Opposition parties have voiced sharp concern that the Goa Legislative Assembly is being reduced to a mere formality, alleging that shrinking sittings, curbs on Legislative Assembly Questions (LAQs) and the frequent conversion of starred questions into unstarred ones are weakening legislative oversight and insulating the government from scrutiny.
Members have argued that questions are now being disallowed on technical grounds such as length, while substantive matters are increasingly pushed into Zero Hour, limiting the scope for debate, accountability and follow-up. Here's what the Opposition leaders said.
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YURI ALEMAO, Leader of Opposition
Since I became an MLA in 2022, I have witnessed the assembly sessions getting shrunk. This undermines democratic values and is a direct attack on people's voice. As an MLA and Leader of Opposition, I represent my constituency and the people of the state, respectively. But this incapacitated BJP government is not allowing us to raise people's voices.
...So debates don't happen. They don't want opposition raising pressing issues as they get exposed. But I am confident we will expose their corruption, loot, hafta practices, environmental destruction, and projects against public wishes.
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VIJAI SARDESAI, Goa Forward Party chief
From the perspective of an opposition member in Goa, the functioning of Assembly sessions has become a matter of serious concern. When sessions are compressed, meaningful debate is the first casualty, and the Assembly risks becoming a forum for formality rather than accountability.
Important public issues affecting Goans—whether related to governance, infrastructure, environment, or livelihoods—do not receive the time and depth they deserve... LAQs are meant to be a primary instrument of accountability… When questions are disallowed, truncated, or overly filtered, it limits transparency and shields the executive from scrutiny.
The practice of pushing substantive matters into Zero Hour or converting them into unstarred questions… denies members the opportunity to seek clarifications. As a result, crucial policy decisions and governance failures escape rigorous examination on the floor of the House.
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VIRESH BORKAR, RGP MLA
Goa is rapidly being destroyed... Opposition MLAs are not getting much time to highlight the ongoing important issues in the Assembly session due to shorter sittings, restrictions on LAQs and less chance to opposition. It only shows the fear of the ruling BJP government. That they will be exposed on the floor of the house. We will fight for the betterment of Goa and safeguarding our identity.
