Angry Independents to corner Goa government with 800 queries

Goa's Independent opposition legislators on Friday said they would confront the BJP-led coalition government with over 800 questions over beach cleaning scams, land conversion, new casinos and failed promises, during the assembly's monsoon session opening on July 25.

Addressing a press conference here, they said they have worked out a floor coordination system with members of the main Opposition Congress party for a better strategic assault on the treasury benches.

The session is being dubbed as the last before the state assembly polls are held, which in early 2017.

The independent legislators who aired their dissatisfaction and ire with the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition state government were Vijai Sardeai from Fatorda assembly constituency, Rohan Khaunte from Porvorim constituency and Naresh Sawal from Bicholim.

"The government is hell-bent on converting Goa into a Macau. The pro-casino stance of the government is so blatant that the new on-shore casino is planned to be inaugurated during the coming assembly session," Sardesai said.

"We have asked the Goa government over 800 questions related to issues like casinos, vigilance cases, its commitment to the coconut trees (coconuts palms were de-classified as trees last year), medical insurance and LED bulb scams, beach cleaning scam, corruption in recruitment, tourism department's land leasing scam, among many, many others," Sardesai said.

Khaunte also claimed that the government was trying to stifle the voice of the opposition by trying to muzzle the media. The criticism of the government made by the opposition was not reflecting fairly in the media, he claimed.

"The issues raised by the Opposition are rarely reported," Khaunte said.

--IANS

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