Puti hits back at Shripad

PANAJI: Hours after Union Minister of State for AYUSH (independent charge) Shripad Naik accused the Goa Mining People’s Front of ‘misleading’ Goans over the ‘assurance’ of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for  a solution to the mining crisis, GMPF leader Puti Gaonkar hit back at the Union minister challenging him  to spell out the  “concrete assurance” given by Modi at the meeting.   

“Apart from uttering ‘main dekhta hoon’ (I will look into it) the Prime Minister did not say anything else…  There was no clear assurance. Let him (Naik) spell out the assurance given by Modi for restarting mining operations in the state,” the agitated Goankar said while speaking to ‘The Navhind Times’ over the phone.

He said that neither the Prime Minister nor any minister of the BJP-led government in the state and at the Centre have specified the method they intend to use for resolving the mining tangle.

“He (Naik) should answer first as to why he took 12 months to fix an appointment with the Prime Minister despite being a Union  minister, and exactly what have they done till date…  Have they  proposed an amendment or moved a file for a  legal option in this matter?” he asked.

Gaonkar said  that since November last year the AYUSH Minister has  kept on announcing dates  for a solution to the mining tangle. However, till now none of the deadlines have been met by the government.

“Shripad knows what the PM told us, and he is also aware of  what Amit Shah said at the karyakarta melava at Bambolim yesterday,” Gaonkar said  asking: “Why Naik is not giving his reaction to the speech of Amit Shah, who made a passing reference in his address  to the mining tangle?”

Goankar said the GMPF will hold a public meeting on February 14 at Usgaon and will also call for a total bandh along the mining belt on February 28 if the government fails to find a solution to the mining imbroglio.