Panaji, Sep 24 (IANS): The Goa government will launch a year-long 'Karmayogi' drive, as part of which bureaucrats will have to travel to all the 191 village panchayats in the state in a bid to create short-term and long-term plans to make the state self-reliant in terms of goods and services, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said on Wednesday.

Addressing a press conference at the Secretariat here, Sawant also presented a year-long action plan for a self-reliant state which would start from October 2 to coincide with the 60th year of Goa's liberation from colonial Portuguese rule. Goa was liberated by the Indian armed forces in 1961.

"We are in sync with the Prime Minister's vision for an 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat' by making Goa self-reliant. Right now, we are dependent (on other states) for milk, chicken, flowers and other essential goods. If Goa is to be self-reliant, we should have the ability to produce these items," Sawant told reporters.

"We will be following the 'Karmayogi' concept. All government officers should be like Karmayogis. They will have to travel to the villages to understand the problems and make plans to make villages self-reliant and sound out potentials for generation of production modules," Sawant said.

The focus of the outreach, the Chief Minister said, would be to analyse the potential for revival of sectors related to agriculture, animal husbandry, fishery, horticulture, tourism, MSMEs, traditional means of livelihood, and to study the possibilities of institutional strengthening at the village level and to analyse the scope of enhancing revenue for the panchayats.