NT NETWORK
Panaji
Protesting against the government’s decision to hold a curtailed session of the state legislative assembly, the Opposition legislators on Monday displayed placards as Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari left the House after his customary address.
Unhappy over the Governor’s speech not making any mention of the apprehensions about coal handling, which has been going on in the state, the Opposition legislators showed placards reading ‘save Goa for our future generations’, ‘we don’t want coal in Goa’ and ‘we want our rivers and fields’.
Later speaking to media outside the assembly, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said the Speaker of the state legislative assembly should take some action on the unprecedented events that occurred in the House on Monday when the Governor was present in the House.
“This showing of placards etc does not fit into the rules. The Speaker should take some appropriate decision on this,” he said and added that the senior leaders from the Opposition benches should know the rules.
The four-day-long session of state legislative assembly began on Monday with the Governor’s address. However, citing health issue, the Governor tabled his speech after reading four paragraphs.
After the Governor’s address, before the National Anthem was played, the Opposition legislators, without making any noise, stood up and displayed placards.
Leader of the Opposition Digambar Kamat said there was a demand to hold a lengthier session of the assembly. “We met for only five to seven days last year. And this time, the session has been called for only four days,” he said adding that there are a lot of issues that need to be raised on the floor of the House.
Goa Forward Party leader and MLA Vijai Sardesai and Nationalist Congress Party MLA Churchill Alemao said crucial issues like turning Goa into a coal hub should have been discussed in the House. Sardesai said the Governor’s address had no mention about the apprehensions of coal issue, which is one of the most burning issues in the state.
Senior Congress MLA Luizinho Faleiro said he had written to the Governor urging him to call for a special assembly session to discuss the coal issue.
Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party leader Ramakrishna ‘Sudin’ Dhavalikar said he had demanded in a Business Advisory Committee meeting that five Calling Attention motions should be taken up but only three of them are featuring on the record.
Responding to the Opposition benches, Speaker of the legislative assembly Rajesh Patnekar said he has noted down the points raised by them and added that they could raise their issues in the remaining three days of the current session.
Later, Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Glenn Ticlo moved a motion of thanks to the Governor’s address and the motion was seconded by BJP MLA Dayanand Sopte.
