From Sanjay Borkar in Margao
for Daijiworld Media Network - Goa (mb)

Margao, Dec 26 (mb): Save Goa Front's Curtorim MLA Aleixo Reginaldo Lourence has pleaded with chief minister Digamber Kamat to hold a special cabinet meeting to cancel the Special Economic Zones (SEZ) proposed in the state.

If the government failed to retract from its policy towards the SEZs, then he (Kamat) would be responsible for all the loss that would be faced by the people when it comes into reality, he stated in a memorandum submitted to the chief minister.

Indeed, the SEZ issue has become a dilemma for the government, as some of the industrialists have already pumped in large resources here to commission the same, while the people are opposing them tooth and nail.

Earlier only two SEZ were notified, but during the tenure of Kamat-led Congress government, there has been a notification for another, for which the departments concerned are in the process of issuing the required NOCs and other paper work. If government had gone back on it in time, the process would not have started at all, he has stated further.

Unless and until the government scraps the policy, the people of Goa suspect the motives of the government, and hence the government should rethink for the sake of the welfare of the people of Goa, he added.

According to some sources, the youth of Salcette area are preparing to take an active part in the ant-SEZ agitations. If this happens, the government might find it hard to control the situation that could emerge.