Cong wants 18-day monsoon session of Goa Assembly

Assembly Speaker Pramod Sawant

The Congress Legislature Party (CLP) in Goa today demanded that the duration of state Assembly's upcoming monsoon session be increased from 12 to 18 days. The party will urge Assembly Speaker Pramod Sawant to increase the working days of the session, beginning from July 19, CLP leader Chandrakant Kavlekar told reporters here. He was speaking after a meeting of the CLP. The Assembly session is being held after a considerable time gap and should not be curtailed in 12 days, he said.

"The rules of the Assembly are clear that when there are demands for grants being discussed on the floor of the House, the session has to be held for at least 15 days. Considering two-three more days for general discussions, the Assembly session should be held for 18 days," said Kavlekar, the Leader of Opposition in the House. The monsoon session of the Goa Assembly is scheduled to be held from July 19 to August 3.

Kavlekar noted that the Assembly's budget session was cut short from 22 days to just four days in February this year after Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar fell ill. Parrikar, 62, had been in the US for a medical treatment since March this year. He returned to Goa on June 14. "When the session (in February) was cut short during the presentation of the budget, we did not object because of the chief minister's illness.

But now he is back and has started working, so there is no reason to have a short session," Kavlekar said. He said the opposition party plans to raise several issues, like the Greenfield airport at Mopa, reducing the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) from 200 metres to 50 metres through a draft notification of the environment ministry, the drug menace in the state, the regional plan and others.

"We need time to present these issues and expose the government on the floor of the House. The session should be held for 18 days," he demanded. With 16 legislators, the Congress is the main opposition party in the 40-member House.