PANAJI
Speaker of the Goa legislative Assembly, Ramesh Tawadkar on Tuesday said that he met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and pitched to him a 'food park' in Canacona.
Tawadkar also said that he has officially invited the Prime Minister to inaugurate the 'Lokotsav' slated to be held later this year.
Citing the backwardness of Canacona, the constituency which he represents as MLA, Tawadkar said the agrarian taluka would be ideal for food processing and related industries within a dedicated food park.
A tribal himself, the Speaker has also been spearheading the 'Lokotsav' an annual festival of tribal culture and living. He said, this year he wished that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would inaugurate the event and has officially invited him to do the honours.
DISQUALIFICATION PLEAS: Meanwhile, responding to queries from the media, Tawadkar has denied any delay on his part in adjudicating the disqualification pleas against legislators who switched camps from the Congress to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
"The lawyers representing the parties involved are taking time. The hearing of the petitions are progressing normally," he said.
Multiple petitions seeking disqualification of the eight Congress MLAs who defected to the BJP in September 2022, are pending before the Speaker since then.
Former Congress State president, Girish Chodankar, who is one of the petitioners, has accused the Speaker of delaying proceedings and even approached the Supreme Court which has urged Tawadkar to decide the matters expeditiously.
