Making efforts towards getting special status for Goa: Parsekar

Panaji, July 26: All hope is not lost as far as Goa's pursuit for special status is concerned, Goa chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar told the legislative assembly on Tuesday.

In a written reply, Parsekar said the state government was making "all efforts to pursue" the matter with the Central government.

"The proposal for grant of special status for Goa is still pending with the Indian government. The state is making all efforts in pursuing the matter," Parsekar said.

Political parties cutting across party lines have supported the demand for special status to Goa, with the state legislative assembly even passing a unanimous resolution backing the demand in 2013.

However, earlier this year the Goa Chief Minister in a media interaction had described the chances of the state attaining special status as a "mirage".

Working towards granting special status to Goa was also one of the poll planks of the Bharatiya Janata Party during its election campaign ahead of the 2012 state assembly poll.

The Goa government in 2013 had also written to the Home ministry requesting for special status to the state on the lines of Mizoram, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand under Article 371 or any other provision of the Constitution of India to conserve the state's land resources and identity.

IANS