Alemao Churchill, former chief minister of Goa and now holding the PWD portfolio in Digambar Kamat ministry, renewed his threat to annex Karwar into Goa.
Alemao Churchill, former chief minister of Goa and now holding the PWD portfolio in Digambar Kamat ministry, renewed his threat to annex Karwar into Goa. On Monday, he said he would also annex Joida taluk which will give Goa an additional 2000 sq km of land and more than 4 lakh people of Konkani origin.
Speaking at a high school function in the border area of Canacona, 8 km from Karwar, Churchill said: “I care hoots to the police complaint given in my name at Karwar police station by Karnataka Rakshana Vedike and other fringe groups. I will challenge them to give more complaints everywhere in their state and I will still continue to blow whistle for annexing Karwar and Joida taluks into Goa”.
Later speaking from Varca, he said the state was running short of land resources and its demographic profile was also not all that conducive for the state to progress economically. At the time of liberation from the Portuguese, Goa had only 5 lakh population but now it has grown to almost 20 lakh.
“If we annex Karwar and Joida, Goa state will be larger and will get more representatives in the legislative assembly as well as in Parliament, which will give additional support to the development and progress of Goa. We will also get Sea Bird naval base and Kaiga nuclear plant. At present, Goa does not have any vital installation worth its name except National Institute of Oceanology and Dabolim airport,” he said.
“By annexing Karwar and Joida taluks into Goa, we are not raising any regional issues with Karnataka as that state is our good neighbour. We need good relations with Karnataka but we want more land and more Konkani-speaking people which are available in Joida and Karwar. We need them for a greater Goa,” he added.
“If Karnataka government was interested in developing Karwar, it had ample opportunities ever since the state came into being. But look at Karwar, there are hardly any civic amenities,” said Ullas, a proponent of annexation.
N Datta, convener of Karnataka Rakshana Vedike said, “Let Churchill and his followers take land from Maharashtra, they have already got an ongoing dispute with that state. We will not allow Karwar merger. To prevent that, we will bring people from all districts of Karnataka to Karwar”.
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