Panaji: Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) has welcomed the statement by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant that Goa is likely to get a third district by next year.
"I welcome the statement made by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and hope that he will move swiftly to make it a reality soon," said Leader of Opposition Digambar Kamat.
He has however pointed out that the vision document of the Congress party for the Assembly elections in 2017 had given a commitment to Goans that a third district would be formed comprising of Ponda, Sattari and Dharbandora talukas.
"The three talukas have seen fast growth in the last few years. The creation of third district will reduce the hardships of the people who have to travel all the way to Margao or Panaji for their routine works pertaining to government administrative matters," Kamat said.
Kamat recalled that Ponda Congress MLA and former chief minister Ravi Naik had first floated the idea of forming the third district when Kamat was the chief minister.
"We had moved in that direction. However, due to change in government in 2012 we could not take it further," he said.
"I welcome the statement made by the Chief Minister and hope that he will move swiftly to make it a reality soon. The government needs to streamline the bureaucracy and make them sensitive towards issues concerning the common man," he said.