Goa CM should lead all-party delegation to PM against central Ports law: Congress

Faleiro urged all village panchayats, zilla panchayats and municipalities to pass special resolutions condemning the central legislation

The Opposition in Goa on Thursday demanded that Chief Minister Pramod Sawant lead an all-party delegation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to oppose the Major Port Authorities Act, 2021, which former CM Luizinho Faleiro claimed would lead to nearly dozen state laws into redundancy.

Addressing a press conference in Panaji at the state Congress headquarters, the former state Congress president and sitting MLA Luizinho Faleiro also urged all village panchayats, zilla panchayats and municipalities to pass special resolutions condemning the central legislation, which Faleiro said encroaches on the state's power to legislate its territory.

"I appeal to the Chief Minister and Minister of State, if they feel they are impotent and they cannot do anything, to lead an all party delegation to the PM and to press the need to repeal this act which will otherwise destroy Goa and this landscape," Luizinho Faleiro told a press conference.

"This law is harmful to Goa and Goans... My first appeal to all three MPs is to immediately explain their role to Goans and if they have a role, they have to immediately get this act cancelled," Faleiro further said. Goa sends three lawmakers to both houses of the Parliament, out of one is a Congress Lok Sabha MP.

"None of the three MPs have spoken. The CM has not spoken. The bill was passed in LS and RS and a notification was issued. What are we waiting for? It is very, very shocking that from our three MPs, our member of North Goa (Shripad Naik), is a Minister for this Portfolio. He has also not said anything," the former two-time Chief Minister also said.

Quoting a reply of deputy Chief Minister Chandrakant Kavlekar tabled during last week's session of the state assembly, Faleiro said that Kavlekar in his written reply to a legislative assembly question had said that between "10 to 12" state laws like the Goa Town and Country Planning Act, the Regional Pan and the ODPs, Goa Municipalities Act, Goa Revenue code, would be made redundant once the Goa government incorporates the Major Port Authorities Act, 2021.

Faleiro also said that local government bodies like village panchayats, zilla panchayats and municipalities should also raise their voice against the encroachment potential of the central Ports legislation.

"The said law must be repealed without any further delay in the interest of the state.

All VP, ZP and Municipalities should convene gram sabhas and special meetings and oppose draconian law which has potential to usurp powers of local bodies," Faleiro said.