Weakening assembly business is threat to democracy; Alemao writes to BAC Chief

Goa Khabar : Leader of Opposition Yuri Alemao has emphasized that holding the assembly session to just one day and restricting debates on critical issues to shorter periods poses a significant threat to democracy.

In a letter to Ramesh Tawadkar, Legislative Assembly Speaker and Chairman of Business Advisory Committee, Congress leader Yuri Alemao has appealed to ensure the democratic rights of opposition members in the Legislative Assembly are protected as the opposition plays a vital role in holding the ruling party accountable and representing the voices of their constituents.

“To safeguard our rights the Business Advisory Committee must ensure that opposition MLAs are given adequate time to participate in the proceedings of the House. The practice of converting Starred LAQs to Unstarred LAQs diminishes transparency and erodes democratic principles. This needs to be stopped and concerned officers should be held responsible for playing with democratic process,” he urged.

He has also demanded that replies of LAQs should be given 48 hours prior to the sitting. “Despite knowing that MLAs need to study the replies, they are purposely delayed. This is done to restrain us from grilling the government over the pressing issues,” Alemao pointed out.

“I sincerely feel that the convening of the state assembly session should not boil down to an exercise in tokenism just to meet the bare minimum requirement. The duration should be fixed to ensure debate and discussion on all the ministries and to present the issues of the people and the state. I expect this to be seriously considered in the current year,” further stated in the letter.