Panaji: Goa Forward Party has communicated to Speaker of State Legislative Assembly that passing of Budget without discussion on the floor of the House would amount to “fraud on the people of Goa.”
State government has planned to pass Budget during one day long session called on July 27.
GFP Chief Vijai Sardesai, in a letter to the Speaker on Thursday, has condemned action of Business Advisory Committee (BAC) to schedule passing of the Budget during day long session.
“I find it difficult to comprehend the attitude of the Chief Minister and the Government to bulldoze various important bills without any discussion and without allowing any of the elected representatives of the people of Goa to apply his or her mind to the issues concerned, especially as they are linked to the future of Goa,” Sardesai said in a letter.
Sardesai said alleged that Government appears to be systematically denying its members their right to question the Government on various critical issues like response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the state of the finances, the destruction of Goa’s environment, illegal land developments, tourism promotion scams, lack of impetus to agriculture, recruitment scams and many other issues which are crucial to the people of Goa and their future.
“It will be a fraud on the people of Goa to pass the Budget as it has been presented to the House. It is very clear that due to the pandemic and its social and economic effects, both the revenue and expenditure estimates of the budget will take a massive beating and approving these estimates without discussion and revision will be a meaningless exercise,” he added.
Sardesai said that the Budget should be amended and revised to be more realistic than the present figures, which have been rendered irrelevant by the pandemic. “This revised Budget can be passed after thorough discussion at the next full-fledged session sometime in November or December of this year. Meanwhile, the Government should pass a Vote on Account for a further four months till then,” he added.
