Porvorim: The House was disrupted during the morning session on Friday, as opposition MLAs protested holding placards in the well of the House and raising slogans against ‘dictatorship’. The opposition legislators said that almost 16 of their private member bills were held up and not being introduced. The House was adjourned three times, and the legislators were led out by marshals at one point. Speaker Ganesh Gaonkar tried to pacify the MLAs during their protest, stating that the bills submitted by them had gone for scrutiny as per procedure. The bills included amendments to the Town and Country Planning Act, Goa Land Protection and Conservation Act, and a new Goa Protection for Agriculture Land Act, submitted by St Andre MLA Viresh Borkar.The opposition MLAs first rushed to the well of the House, shouting slogans of “We want justice” and “bandh karo hukumshahi bandh Karo (stop this dictatorship)”. Gaonkar adjourned the assembly for 10 minutes initially, as the MLAs had to be led out by marshals.When the session resumed and the speaker tried to reason with the protesting MLAs, they rushed again to the well of the House with the slogan of ‘karo ya maro’ and holding placards with names of the submitted bills. However, the MLAs refused to back down and the House was adjourned for another 30 minutes.“Amkam jai amkam jai, amchi billan amkam jai (we want our bills)”, slogans were raised this time by the MLAs, who placed the bills on the floor of the well and walked around in holding hands in solidarity.As the speaker decided to carry on with the proceedings, the legislators walked to every member addressing the House. “There is a procedure for bills to be taken up,” said the speaker.The House had to be adjourned a third time at 12.40pm, and resumed after lunch, when the protesting MLAs did not attend. They addressed reporters outside the assembly.
