Goan Govt. expresses inability to finance Konkani Parishad because it is being held in Mangalore

April 18: The Konkani writers and lovers are sore over the state government’s inability to sanction financial help for the 23rd All India Konkani Parishad (AIKP), beginning on Saturday, April 20 at Mangalore in Karnataka. Goan delegates will leave for Mangalore tomorrow.

The Chief Minister, Mr Manohar Parrikar, in a letter written to the working president of the All India Konkani Parishad, Dr Tanaji Halarnkar, has expressed government’s inability to sanction financial aid to Konkani conference in view of its being held outside Goa.

Mr Parrikar informed the AIKP that the government, as a policy matter, normally sanctions financial help to the events that are being held in the state and the budgetary provisions have been made for such events.

Incidentally, Mr Parrikar said the state’s expenditure currently is being managed through contingency fund and therefore the request for the state’s financial help cannot be met.

The AIKP had written a letter to the government requesting to sanction financial help to the tune of Rs 2 lakh on March 22. The letter was personally handed over to the Chief Minister by Dr Halarnkar along with Konkani poet, Mr Nagesh Karmali and others.

The Konkani lovers argue that the government was a continuous process and in the past too all Konkani conferences were held outside Goa. The Faleiro government had sanctioned an amount of Rs 1 lakh to the last parishad session held in Belgaum. The Sardinha government had sanctioned Rs 1.5 lakh for Goa Yuva Mohatsava in 2000.

Dr Halarnkar, when contacted said that since Konkani is the official language of the state, the government should have found some viamedia for providing the financial aid to the all India conference. The conference would help to promote Konkani and therefore the state should have sanctioned aid for such meet, Dr Halarnkar said.

MR