NT NETWORK
PANAJI
Stating that Governor Mridula Sinha’s address on March 23 during the state assembly session will make the direction of his government clear, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar Friday said that the first meeting of his cabinet has approved the Governor’s speech.
Briefing the media along with his ministers after the cabinet meeting, Parrikar said the common agenda as well as policy directions of his coalition government will be broadly cleared in the Governor’s speech, adding that major issues for common agenda have been worked out between the alliance partners.
Asserting that his government will complete its five-year tenure, the Chief Minister assured that his government will be stable and progressive and focus on protection of ‘Goenkarponn’ (Goan ethos). Besides, the government will emphasise on development by guarding speciality of the state and providing employment opportunities to youth.
“After proving majority of my government, which is a coalition of BJP, MGP, Goa Forward and Independent MLAs, in the state assembly on Thursday, now there should be no speculation about the survival of my government for the next five years,” Parrikar said.
He said that after winning the trust vote, he had a series of meetings in which various issues of importance were discussed including finding out solution to the Supreme Court ban on liquor outlets along the highways and also working out a mechanism to resolve the problem of traffic congestion in Porvorim. “The government will try and find out a solution to the Supreme Court ban on liquor outlets along the highways” Parrikar said.
On Mhadei water dispute, Parrikar said that the state government has decided to work out a strategy to resolve the Mhadei water diversion issue with the neighbouring state of Karnataka. The strategy will be clear by Monday, he said pointing out that some of the strategies need to be kept confidential to protect the interest of the state. The government has appointed additional advocate general Dattaprasad Lawande as the new advocate general (AG) of the state, as advocate general Saresh Lotlikar has resigned from the post.
Parrikar said that since former AG has resigned, the cabinet has decided to appoint Dattaprasad Lawande as the new advocate general, adding that there will be no need to brief him since he was handling most of the government issues in the Green Tribunal, Mhadei Water Disputes Tribunal, High Court as additional advocate general. The cabinet has approved the proposal to appoint him.