Nitin Gadkari blatantly lied to people of Goa over resumption of mining: Congress

Panaji (Goa) [India], June 23 : The Goa Pradesh Congress Committee on Monday said that Union Minister Nitin Gadkari 'blatantly lied' to the people of Goa for stating that mining activities in the state have resumed.
"Union Minister Nitin Gadkari blatantly lied to the people of Goa by saying that the BJP government has resumed mining in Goa. With his statement, he has not only insulted the mining dependents who are suffering because of mining closure since 2012 but has rubbed salt on their wound," alleged GPCC president Girish Chodankar at a press conference.
The GPCC further said that the BJP is not interested in starting mining activities in the state.
Former Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition Digambar Kamat, GPCC President Girish Chodankar, Former Union Minister Adv. Ramakant Khalap, Former MLA Agnelo Fernandes addressed the media.
Chodankar said that the statements are made by the Prime Minister, Defence Minister and External Affairs Minister "to mislead the people and divert their attention from the blunders of the Modi Government on India-China border issue."
"We want to question Nitin Gadkari on what stopped him from telling the people about who is responsible for the martyrdom of 20 brave soldiers of India and what is the actual cause of their killing," he said.
He further said. "Union Minister Nitin Gadkari should have explained to the people of Goa what exactly was achieved after the draconian decision of demonetization and haphazard implementation of GST was taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi."
Former Chief Minister Digambar Kamat stated that the centre "is taking loans after loans," thus increasing the burden of liability on every Goan "day by day".
"The Modi government has still not paid the rightful share of 750 Crores of GST to the state. The Chief Minister himself has admitted that not even a single rupee is received from the Centre against the package of Rs. 2000 Crores demanded by the State Government. This clearly indicates that even the Modi Government has pushed the country into a financial emergency," Kamat said.
The former CM alleged that the people of Goa are in need of financial package to revive the economy of the State. "It is unfortunate that the BJP government could not even release 100 Crores package to the marginal sector as demanded by the Congress Party," he added.
Kamat further stated that the government is further burdening the people by increasing fuel prices. "The prices of Petrol and Diesel have gone up almost by Rs. 8/- in last 15 days. He also said that the most deserving beneficiaries of Gruha Aadhar, DSS, Laadli Laxmi and other Social Welfare Scheme have not received the money for the last 5 months," he expressed.
MLA Agnelo Fernandes said that the BJP government in Goa has finished the Tourism Industry due to 'gross corruption'.
"The Tourism Stakeholders have suffered the most due to COVID-19 pandemic and faulty policies of the government. Surprisingly, Nitin Gadkari did not speak anything about the revival of Tourism Industry in Goa," he said.
Adv. Ramakant Khalap stated that the state government is "is all out to finish the Co-operative movement in Goa".
"The government deliberately did not take any proactive action to save Mapusa Urban Bank. Now, the BJP has laid restrictions on VPK Urban Co-operative Society which has resulted in creating panic amongst the depositors and account holders in these testing times," he said.
He added: "The government has done nothing to revive the Madgaum Urban Co-operative Bank. We want to know why Nitin Gadkari did not talk about giving help to the people of Goa to come out from the government made crises."
Calling the state government's approach to tackling COVID-19 in the state as lethargic, the GPCC president said that he 'hopes' that the first death due to COVID-19 in the state would send an alarm to the Chief Minister.
"It is due to the irresponsible and lethargic approach of the government that there is a rampant spread of the Coronavirus across Goa. Unfortunately, the first death is reported from Sattari taluka," Chodnakar said.
"I hope this unfortunate death will send an alarm to the Chief Minister who is continuously reciting the mantra of "Bhivpachi Garaj Na" and will give him the wisdom to take realistic preventive measures to ensure that this trend does not continue," he added.
"The people of Goa are fed-up with the dictatorial and mismanaged governance of the BJP in the last 8 years. If the BJP government fails to announce the financial package to revive the economy, the people of Goa will not hesitate to come on roads," said the congress leaders.