On Sunday, February 6, Congress released its manifesto ahead of the Goa Assembly Polls and present at the event, party senior leader P Chidambaram also promised resumption of mining activities in the coastal state if Congress shall win.
Others present at the event were party’s Goa in-charge Dinesh Gundu Rao, state unit chief Girish Chodankar, former Union minister Ramakant Khalap and AICC media in-charge for Goa elections Alka Lamba.
For the unversed, mining operations used to be the main source of income for the government of Goa that stopped in 2018 after the Supreme Court declared 88 mining leases illegal. Addressing the event, P Chidambaram said that the problem was not the source but how it was allocated.
He said, “There are three avenues for the state budget – government’s own resources, share of central government revenue and central government grants.”
He also stressed on the fact that resources can increase in the state if it becomes an IT or pharmaceutical hub. He added, “If one fails to attend to the problems, revenues are depressed.”
On the election front, in 2017, after the last assembly election, Congress had emerged as the single-largest party by winning 17 seats in the 40-member House. However, the BJP taking support of other parties surpassed that number and came into power.
