Giving his initial reaction to the BJP Manifesto released today, Mr Shantaram Naik M P and Spokesperson of Goa Pradesh Congress Committee said that Mr Manohar Parrikar should clarify whether he is aiming to become Chief Minister or a Sarpanch.
Explaining further Mr Naik said that it is the Panchayat Bodies which decide whether to levy a House Tax or not and not the State Government, and further, if any State Government proposes to amend Panchayat Raj Act , to deprive Panchayats from collecting house tax then, the same would violate the spirit of 73rd amendment. Naik further said that BJP sabotaged the expansion and upgradation of National Highway- 17 ,as a result, construction of Galjibag , Tolpon bridges in Canacona and second Zuari bridge , besides many other smaller bridges coming on the highway , had to be postponed and, very BJP is now promising four lane Highway and six lane Zuari bridge in its manifesto. Mr Naik said that BJP has no moral authority to speak of the welfare of women and promise any schemes for them when they have not fielded any woman candidate for the ensuing elections.
Naik said that BJP Manifesto says that “legal mining to be regulated” but does not give any assurance for stopping illegal mining. Mr Naik said evacuee matter of Mayem is the concern of all the political parties and, some of these matters are pending in the court. In such circumstances ,giving the electorate a promise of resolving the evacuee matter in hundreds days means and implies that Mr Parrikar perhaps, intends to usurp , the powers of courts to pass judgements and decrees . The new Land Acquisition Policy of the Central Government , based on which the new Land Acquisition Bill is on the way of becoming a law , which BJP is stalling at present in Parliament, contains a number of beneficial provisions to the land owners and is an excellent legislation , and therefore, local BJP’s promise of new policy is a sham and bogus exercise in the matter, Mr Naik said.
Naik said if BJP proposes to proposes to reduce petrol price by Rs 11 per litre by abolishing the Vat, they should also declare as to which are the developmental projects ,they would like to drop by doing away with Vat on petrol. Mr Naik said that in the present scenario ,it is not simply enough for BJP to declare ” Garbage management for entire state within 18 months in consultation with stakeholders” , but people would like to know concrete plans and not garbage bluffs. There is no doubt a need to make Goa plastic free but equally important for the people of the State is to make Goa BJP free.
