Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Monday said that his mission to make Goa plastic free by 2018 was delayed because of his illness. Speaking at the State-organised annual Revolution Day event at Azad Maidan in the city on Monday, he said that the government would take strong steps to achieve the target.
"We will take strong steps to ensure that Goa is plastic free by 2018. The delay was because of my illness, but I want to tell people that these things need to happen," Mr. Parrikar said at his first official public function after his return from the United States last week after medical treatment of over three months.
Mr. Parrikar had made a promise to make Goa plastic-free by 2018 at the Goa Revolution Day function last year. Goa Revolution Day is celebrated on June 18 to recognise the clarion call for a fight against colonial Portuguese rule given by freedom fighter Ram Manohar Lohia. Goa was ruled by the Portuguese for 451 years, before the State was liberated by the Indian armed forces in 1961.
Expressing concern over plastic litter, Mr. Parrikar said that even educated people litter because they lack knowledge, and added that he would also strive to make Goa a knowledge-rich society.
"Educated people throw plastic and dirt in the Mandovi river. When educated people do this, lack of knowledge is the reason.We are educated, but we do not have knowledge. Let us not have mere education, but knowledge too in Goa. Education gives us information, knowledge takes you beyond it," Mr. Parrikar said in his brief speech at Azad Maidan.
