Goa's demand for special status not feasible: Minister

The demand for a special status for Goa was not feasible, Union minister of State for Home Haribhai Chaudhary told the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.

Chaudhary's written reply came on a question by Congress MP Shantaram Naik, who asked if the central government was considering special provisions for Goa under the Indian Constitution.

"The matter was examined and was not considered feasible," the minister said.

For the last few years, the demand for a special status for Goa has been made in political and social circles in the state, which has been facing challenges stemming from rapid in-migration, shrinking land resource and a resultant dilution of identity of the local populace.

The Goa government in 2013 wrote to the union home ministry requesting for a special status on the lines of that granted to Mizoram, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand under Article 371 or other provisions of the Constitution so as to conserve the state's land resources and identity.