The proposed passenger train

service between Delhi and Madgaon near here was to bring "non Goans" to the coastal state as it is now a green zone with no COVID-19 cases, said Independent MLA Rohan Khaunte on Monday.

The railways had announced that it would run 15 pairs of trains from Tuesday between Delhi and Dibrugarh, Agartala, Howrah, Patna, Bilaspur, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar, Secunderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Madgaon, Mumbai Central, Ahmedabad and Jammu Tawi.

"We are fortunately in a green zone as far the COVID- 19 outbreak is concerned. This tag of green zone has created a lot of attraction towards Goa, wherein non-Goans want to come here and stay," Khaunte alleged.

Taking a swipe at Chief Minister Pramod Sawant's statement on Monday that several people from across the border were being smuggled into Goa, Khaunte said it should be viewed seriously as "we don't know how many people have entered the state without being tested for COVID-19".

He said "influential people" were being allowed to come into the state at the expense of "genuine Goans".

He also claimed several houses that were closed during last month's health survey across the state have now opened with people living in them.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)