There is nothing for Goenkarponn: Congress

NT NETWORK
PANAJI
Stating that there was nothing for Goenkarponn in the budget, the Opposition Congress party on Friday said the government has failed to bring about anything to deal with unemployment in the state.
Opposition leader Chandrakant ‘Babu’ Kavlekar said that although there had been big assurances from the government, there was nothing new in the budget 2017-18.
Parrikar has only tried to make happy coalition partners and some BJP MLAs, who could not be inducted in the cabinet, by announcing special packages to their constituencies, Kavlekar charged.
He pointed out that the new government had claimed that it would take up initiatives promised by the previous BJP government in the last two years, and said that he cannot see all these promises in the budget.
Senior Congress MLA Digambar Kamat also said the promises made by BJP in the last three-four year have been repeated in this budget, citing the example of the incomplete work of district hospital in Margao.
Seeking the definition of Goenkarponn, Kamat said, “We are talking about Goenkarponn, but if you go through the population census you will find that most of the people employed at various places are non-Goans. Is this Goenkarponn? I think the decision reserving 80 per cent job for Goans in industries should be made compulsory.”
Congress veteran and Navelim MLA Luizinho Faleiro criticised the government for not making any efforts to deal with unemployment, adding that the budget lacks luster and there was nothing for Goenkar or Goenkarponn.
“Employment, development and progress have come to a grinding halt. The state economy is in total meltdown. The government does not have any proposal for promoting agriculture sector though the Chief Minister talked about taking growth of the sector from minus three to plus three. There is nothing; neither for agriculture nor on unemployment,” he added.
Congress MLA Alexio Reginaldo Lourenco said that there was no mention about ways to reduce public debt of Rs 12,000 crore.
Nothing has been said about the Investment Promotion Board or contract labourers.
“This budget is five-year-old budget. That time he had promised 50,000 jobs; but this time they have promised 4000 job every year.”
Senior Congress leader and Ponda MLA Ravi Naik said that neither there was a mention about repayment of Rs 12,000 crore loan nor any plan for revenue generation.