PANAJI: The members of the Goa State Legislative Assembly called for handing over the case relating to drug and the involvement of police personnel in it to the Central Bureau of Investigation for an impartial inquiry.
Participating in the discussion on motion of thanks to the Governor’s address delivered on the opening day of the session, members cutting across party lines called for an independent inquiry into the alleged involvement of police personnel in drug trafficking and their alleged nexus with kingpins in the drug trade.
Opening the discussion on the second day of three day debate, Ms Victoria Fernandes (Congress-St Cruz) called for decentralization of powers to the local self government bodies. She also demanded equal distribution of development funds in all the constituencies. Mr Mahadev Naik (BJP-Shiroda) called for laying of underground cables and upgradation of primary health centre in his constituency. He also opposed proposal for mining in his constituency. Mr Nilkanth Halarnkar (NCP-Tivim) called for more subsidy in agriculture sector, particularly to save the fruit crop that was unique to Goa. The BJP MLA from Canacona, Mr Vijay Pai Khot alleged that Pakistanis have infiltrated under the garb of Kashmiris and could create serious law and order problems in the state and called for means to check their activities. Mr Reginaldo Lourenco (Congress-Curtorim) demanded that government should give more attention to agriculture, even as he called for setting up environment impact assessment panel to gauge impact of mining.
Mr Francisco D’Souza (BJP-Mapusa) said that the per capita loans on Goans were rising due to increased borrowings by the government and wanted to know when would the borrowings stop. He also called for evolving a master plan for development of the state and urged the government to minimize the road accidents.
Mr Mauvin Godinho (Congress-Cortalim) wanted to know when would the mining policy be notified, even as he demanded curbing of illegal mining.
He also criticised the government for failing to find solution to the solid waste management issue. Others who spoke during the discussion were Mr Francisco Silveira and
Mr Rajesh Patnekar.
