I dont favour SEZs: Willy
NT Staff Reporter Panaji, Oct 29 The state president of the Nationalist Congress Party, Dr Wilfred de Souza today said he did not favour special economic zones in Goa because the state is too small to give away large chunks of land to companies for setting up special economic zones. Dr de Souza however made it clear that the matter of special economic zones was not discussed at his party level and this was his personal opinion. He was speaking informally to reporters after a meeting of NCPs executive committee today evening. He said Goa does not have lakhs of square metres to donate to companies for setting up special economic zones. He also wondered what benefits special economic zones would bring to the people of Goa. Not a single SEZ should be agreed to unless a proper evaluation is done by the government about the pros and cons of the SEZs. They are okay for big states like Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh. But Goa is too small. Naturally the people of Keri and Verna are fighting, Dr de Souza said. He added that the NCP would hold a meeting to discuss the issue after the South Goa by-election and then make public, its stand on SEZ. When asked, if as coalition partners, the NCP was happy with the functioning of the Congress-led government in Goa, Dr de Souza said this is not the time to express opinions because they were in election mode. He said the NCP was backing the Congress candidate in the South Goa by-election. He had attended Mr Francisco Sardinhas office opening on the first day and also the closing of the campaign at Lohia Maidan yesterday because Mr Sardinha had personally invited him. It is necessary to show the people that the Congress and the NCP are together, he added. When pressed for his comments on the Congress-NCP relationship in Goa, Dr de Souza said the NCP was not entirely happy with the progress made by the government. At least that was the feeling of the NCPs executive committee due to various reasons but he did not want to express all those reasons till after the by-elections are over. We dont want to damage Mr Sardinhas chances, he added. The Tourism Minister and the NCPs Benaulim MLA, Mr Francisco Xavier Pacheco did not attend todays executive committee meeting. When asked if that was because there was a fight between him (Dr de Souza) and Mr Pacheco, Dr de Souza replied in the negative. There is no fight between Mickky and me. There may be differences of opinion on certain things but definitely no fight, he said. Dr de Souza said he had called todays executive committee meeting because he wanted to convey to his party colleagues in Goa what had happened at the two NCP working committee meetings at Shillong and Mumbai that he attended recently. He said at Shillong they discussed the upcoming elections in Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura. At Mumbai, the working committee discussed the upcoming elections in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat. http://www.navhindtimes.com/articles.php?Story_ID=10309 Sanny de Quepem <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com
