House session starts, oppn may corner govt

Panaji: The four-day winter session of the state legislative assembly beginning on Monday may see the government in a tight spot over the issue of Mhadei as the opposition is trying to corner it on the issue.
The business advisory committee has decided to hold a discussion on Mhadei on Thursday. The opposition is likely to raise issues of unemployment, reduction in the duration of the session and restriction in asking data of more than five years, among others.
The state government will answer starred 134 and unstarred 475 questions during the session. The state government will also introduce and pass 13 government bills. Other business of the House, includes calling attention and zero-hour mention, among others.
The state government will pass an amendment to the Goa Municipalities Act, 1968, to allow the election of chairpersons and vice-chairpersons by show of hands. The ordinance promulgated by the governor on October 6, 2022, will now be replaced with the new bill.
Leader of the opposition Yuri Alemao said basically there are several issues including Mhadei, unemployment, disaster management, bad roads, functioning of the transport department and Mopa and Dabolim airport issues. “Law and order, rape, mining and dance bars are some of the burning issues. We will come up with a strategy to corner the government,” he said.
The state government will also introduce a bill to amend the Goa Town and Country Planning Act, 1974, which will allow the government to modify the regional plan to accommodate tourism-related projects and projects based on the state’s economic and environmental policies.
The cabinet has granted approval to the TCP bill as it felt that there are inadvertent errors, inconsistencies and incoherent zoning proposals in the Regional Plan which need to be corrected.
The government will introduce a bill to amend the Goa Land Revenue Code, 1968, to do away with the need for permission from the revenue department for activities undertaken in pursuance of the permission or licence granted under the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulations) Act, 1957.
The government will also introduce a bill to amend the Goa Panchayat Raj Act, 1994, “to create a transparent and efficient mechanism to streamline the process of granting permissions, licences, and occupancy certificates”.