GOEMCHEA RAKHONDARANCHO AWAZ
(GRA)
Address: Upper Ground Floor, C-1, Saldanha Towers, Feira Alta, Mapusa
Bardez - Goa - Ph. 0832 - 2263284
FAX; NO: 91 11 23093289
Email: p...@sansad.nic.in
To,
Mr. Pranab Mukerjee,
Finance Minister,
Ministry of Finance,
Room 134, North Block,
New Delhi -110001
SUBJECT: Special Status for Goa.
Dear Mr. Mukerjee,
This has reference to your statement made in Goa, on Monday 27th. February
2012 and which has been published in most of the dailies in Goa that the
Chairman (who is the Prime Minister) and the Deputy Chairman of the National
Development Council (N.D.C.) have decided not to give special category
status to any State as it entitles the States to get special financial
assistance. We as a Registered Association based in Goa, composed of many
other local Associations and NGOs created specifically to promote the
ultimate grant of Special Status to Goa, have to state as under:
That the Special Status which the people of Goa have been demanding has
nothing to do with and is not connected to any special financial assistance
for Goa.
That the Special Status sought is to protect Goa's unique identity, culture
and ethos, which is at peril of being drowned-out of existence by the wave
upon wave of new settlers (migrants) that has swamped Goa.
Such in-migration has resulted in the population of Goa taking a quantum
jump from a mere 5.8 lakhs in 1961 , when Goa was annexed by the Indian
Union, to more than 1.5 million today, despite the fact that statistics have
indicated that Goa's birth rate has been showing a negative trend in the
last two decades or more and that the emigration of Goans to Canada,
Australia, New Zealand and other Western Countries has picked up pace.
Logically, therefore, Goa's population should not have increased, yet
statistics show otherwise, thus proving what has been stated hereinabove.
Furthermore, such type of migrants have served the short sighted and
unscrupulous politicians in Goa to create, through intimidation and/or
enticement, vote banks which are making a mockery of the process of
democracy as the voice of the true Goan is being ignored.
On the other hand, corruption in Goa has reached levels that were unimagined
or dreamt of in their worst nightmares by the people even as late as the
late 1970's. It has affected the land usage (where zones have been changed
at the whims and fancies of the politicians from orchards and agricultural
to settlement and commercial zones etc.) , where many a time land owners and
agriculturalists have been coerced by politicians and their lackeys into
selling their lands to themselves or to their nominees under threat that
the land would otherwise be acquired by the Government for a paltry amount.
This has in turn, spawned an industry of such magnitude which, if allowed to
have its course, will result in Goa being turned into a concrete jungle.
This has made the prices of land soar resulting in Goans being unable to buy
land even for building a house.
You must surely be aware of the scandalous manner in which the mining
industry has been denuding the mining belt of its tree cover and bleeding
Goa of its resources namely, iron and manganese ores and a bit of bauxite as
well as sand from the rivers with no authority taking cognizance of the
destruction of water tables resulting in wells running dry in entire
villages ( for example, Pissurlem village and others in the Bicholim taluka
of North Goa), cultivable fields being covered with the run-off mud from
mining dumps, with people dying of tuberculosis due to unrelenting dust
pollution, rivers being silted with the debris of such erosion.
This list can go on and on.
The people of Goa wish to remind the Union of India that prior to late Prime
Minister Jawaharlal Nehru ordering his troops to invade and annex Goa,
solemn promises were made inside and outside the Parliament of India that
Goa's unique identity, culture and ethos would be protected and that its
needs and well being would be looked at sympathetically. Surely, the Union
of India is not ignorant about the happenings in Goa and the danger that the
present situation poses to this small State to the extent it is in danger of
losing completely that which has made it the cynosure of Indian eyes and its
pride if the same is not controlled or stopped immediately.
Our demand therefore is not for a special status which involves the grant or
increase of finances but everything to do with curbs:
a) Curbs on uncontrolled migration into Goa.
b) Curbs on uncontrolled sale of agricultural and non-agricultural land
to non-Goan mega builders and/or multinationals.
c) Control over the exploitation of resources including over
development of land, mining of metals and other minerals, protection of the
environment and that the benefits of any development in any area shall serve
the interest of the surrounding villages where such development takes
place.
d) Protection of our culture and ethos from the dominant cultures of
India which have the potential of extinguishing the local one.
e) Protection of the special laws of succession, marriage, divorce and
others which is contained in the Common Civil Code which prevails in Goa (
and which incidentally eludes India so far).
This is what we mean by SPECIAL STATUS and that is our demand. India owes
it to Goa and it has to be granted even by amending the Constitution, if
need be.
That is the type of SPECIAL STATUS that GOA needs.
Thank you,
Yours faithfully,
Sd/-
Adv. Antonio Lobo
Spokesperson
GRA
P.S. We do not believe that you are malicious or insensitive and therefore
this letter is going to you as an appeal from the Goans.
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