Comments
Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar has described the threat to disrupt the BRICS conference, issued by All Goa Fishermen’s Union (AGFU), as an “extreme, unwarranted and misplaced reaction.”
On Monday, the umbrella organisation of traditional fishermen and boat-owners issued an ultimatum to the Centre that if the projects such as dredging of the Mondovi and the Zuari rivers and the move for a satellite port were not scrapped, they would disrupt the BRICS event scheduled to be held here in October.
The Chief Minister said such extreme stand is unwarranted. He added that the proposed satellite port is just an idea put up before people for their comments at this stage. The question of imposing it on the people did not arise, he said.
“What is the connection between BRICS and these marine projects?” he asked.
The AGFU on Monday slammed the BJP government at the Centre and in the State for “taking fishermen and traditional coastal communities of Goa for granted and imposing anti-fishermen projects on Goa’s fragile coastal ecology.”
Meanwhile, dissociating himself from the threat to disrupt the BRICS meet, Congress Rajya Sabha MP Shantaram Naik on Tuesday backed the demands of the fisher communities to scrap all the controversial projects. He described the proposed satellite port project as a “land grab scam.”
General secretary of AGFU Olencio Simoes had said that apart from scrapping the various projects, the government must also must constitute district- level committees and notify the fishing villages to regularise all traditional houses as per CRZ notification, 2011 and notify the fishing villages.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.