Goa Legislative Assembly

“Fear and anxiety in the minds of the people of the State, that due to incessant rains, flooding/inundation, landslides and water logging, has been witnessed in several parts of the State and also due to the incessant rains and the heavy flow of the Valvanti River on the NH 748 AA road at Tulshimala, several trees have been uprooted and embankments along the roadsides have also been washed away. The steps the Government has taken in the matter.”

“Fear and Anxiety in the minds of Parents of school going children regarding increasing instances of attempt to kidnapping of children, trespassing in school premises by Anti-social elements etc. The Steps the Government intends to undertake in this regard to provide surveillance in school premises and on isolated tracks of roads and to identify and punish the culprits expeditiously "

“fear and anxiety in the minds of the people regarding the bridge over Kalti river in Sattari Taluka. The bridge is over 55 years old and has developed several cracks. Heavy vehicles from Karnataka use the bridge. There is a urgent need for structural audit and estimates for construction of new bridge alongwith repairs to approach roads and urgent repairs to current bridge has to be carried out to prevent untoward accidents. The steps the Government has taken in this regard”.

“Fear and anxiety in the minds of the farmers in Sattari due to huge losses suffered due to crop damage by wild animals more then 5000 farmers are registered Krishi Card holders. Wild animal feed on coconuts arecanuts, cashewnuts and mangoes. The Agriculture Department under reports cases of damage due to monkeys, bison’s and other wild animals further farmers are allowed only a year to claim under Shetkari Adhar Nidhi Scheme. As such the Government may increase the compensation offered, allow multiple claims in a year so that they are adequately compensated. The steps of the Government to provide adequate and timely relief”.

“Fear and anxiety in the minds of the fair price shop owners, on the sustainability of their operations due to high input costs such as labour, rent, godown charges, transportation and the situation being further aggravated by  delay in payments by the State Government to the fair price shop owners especially in view of the Schemes under the National Food Security Act and directions to the State Government to fix a margin amount payable in advance to the fair price shop owners and the steps taken in this regards.

Zero Hour mention for 10/02/2024 under “Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business of the Goa Legislative Assembly”

I would like to make a zero-hour mention on the following subject: 

Sudden stoppage of payment of Travel Allowance (T.A.) and Dearness Allowance (D.A.) Meter Readers in Electricity Department 

As per SR-71 of FRSR part-II of the Central Government, Travel Allowance is applicable if a Government servant is travelling beyond 8 km to a temporary workplace from the normal place of duty.

Regrettably, some bills of meter readers under electricity department submitted for reimbursement were returned by the Directorate of Accounts seeking clarifications with observation i.e. “provision under which T.A and D. A. claim when duty of meter reader is within their purview”. 

It is understood that Chief Electrical Engineer is seeking clarity from Finance Department on the admissibility of T.A and D. A. to meter readers in the Electricity Department and the reply is awaited. 

The impact of non-payment of T.A. and D.A. to metre readers has resulted in reduced job satisfaction and has put a financial strain on them. Due to increased fuel prices, they are spending a substantial portion out of their salary to travel to perform their duty. 

I request the Hon’ble Minister for Power to kindly intervene and resolve the issue of non-payment of T.A and D. A. and make interim arrangements for an office vehicle to be provided to the meter readers to travel to perform their duty until the issue is resolved. 

Zero Hour mention for 10/02/2024 under “Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business of the Goa Legislative Assembly”

I would like to make a zero-hour mention on the following subject: 

Crop damage by red-faced monkeys and wild animals in Sattari taluka 

As per records of the Department of Agriculture, a total cover of 14, 595.22 hectares in Sattari is utilised for farming and more than 5,000 farmers are Krishi card holders. The farmers of Sattari depend solely on farming for their livelihood.

I had raised the issue of crop damage by wild animals in the last assembly session and I am thankful to the Hon’ble Minister for Agriculture for amending the Clause under Shetkari Adhar Nidhi, so that the affected farmers are able to claim compensation multiple times a year. I request the Hon Minister to kindly ensure funds are allocated so that the compensation claims can be honoured on time.

The farmers are happy with the amendment to the Clause; however, the farmers have made a request to prepare a comprehensive plan that will protect the crop from wild animals and safeguard them against huge financial losses.

Mhadei Varta of 07/02/2024 has reported (show article) that in the village of Keri, Sattari, the red-faced monkeys attacked humans and destroyed coconut plantations. If the destruction to the plantation is not stopped, it will result in scarcity of coconuts in the market and impact the costing thereby making it unaffordable for the people. 

Monkeys and giant squirrels are a menace, as they feed on coconuts throughout the year and destroy crops by sipping juice from tender arecanuts. Wild boars and porcupines are damaging the soil (rhizospheres) of young coconut and arecanut saplings. Farmers also suffer loss of fruiting trees viz. cashewnut, mango etc. caused by the hardy horns of bisons and deers. 

I reiterate the need for awareness to be created amongst farmers in Sattari by the Dept of Agriculture regarding the various schemes that has been introduced for the benefits of the farmers and ensure the schemes are implemented in Sattari Taluka.

I have received feedback from a few farmers that the Electronic Ultrasonic Repeller for monkeys is not very effective and they have requested to investigate the reason for the repeller not giving the desired results 

I request the hon’ble Minister to kindly ensure funds are allocated for the compensation claims, organise awareness camps and ensure the schemes are implemented in Sattari Taluka.

“Fear and anxiety in the minds of the dairy farmers of Sattari, operating small businesses, that due to lack of financial assistance and other related facilities, may lead to close down of their operations. The steps/measures the Government has taken in this regard to increase the payment of incentives to them, the procurement of milk price, affordable cow feed, good quality of dry fodder to be made available at Goa Dairy and efficient veterinary facilities such as equipments for blood tests of cattle, essential medicines and good quality semen for cattle breeding and also to expedite the proposal to set up 24 x 7 ambulatory clinic at Veterinary hospital at Honda and the super specialty veterinary hospital at Mulgao at Bicholim.”

Fear and anxiety in the minds of parents due to cancellation of classes due to shortage of school teachers in Govt. Primary Schools (GPS), Poriem constituency.  Presently, 28 teachers from GPS, poriem constituency have been commissioned as Supervisors/ Enumerators to carry out field work 3 days a week as part of the Agriculture census, 2022-23. As most of the Govt. Primary Schools are managed by a single teacher, the schools are forced to remain closed 3 days a week.  This is in addition to the shortage of teachers and non availability of temporary replacement.

The teachers of GPS are over-burdened because besides their regular teaching job, they have to handle activities related to State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT), Goa Samagra, National Education Policy (NEP), School Management Committee (SMC) etc.

In this context, request the hon\'ble Minister for Education to cancel this additional duty of Agriculture census that has been given to GPS teachers, as this has an adverse impact on the academics of the students.