Panaji, March 13 Opposition MLAs protested in the Goa assembly on Friday after Speaker Ganesh Gaonkar disallowed them from introducing their private member's bills.
The House was adjourned three times as Leader of Opposition Yuri Alemao, Congress MLAs Carlos Alvares Ferreira and Altone D'Cruz, Goa Forward Party's Vijai Sardesai, AAP's Venzy Viegas and Cruz Silva, and Revolutionary Goans Party legislator Viresh Borkar rushed to the well.
Opposition MLAs had submitted 21 private member's bills dealing with issues such as land conversion, river preservation, and paddy field conservation.
Speaking to reporters outside the assembly, Alemao said, "Friday is private members' day. No private member's bill was taken up last Friday because Chief Minister Pramod Sawant presented the Budget. We were hoping that the bills would be considered today. But when it was refused, we decided to protest."
The protest will continue on Monday if the Speaker does not consider these bills, Alemao and Sardesai said.
The bills are about saving Goa, and many from the ruling side are supporting them, claimed AAP MLA Viegas.
The government asked the Speaker to disallow them to save itself from embarrassment, he alleged.
"The right to introduce a private member's bill is a fundamental parliamentary instrument available to members of the Opposition to raise crucial issues and propose legislative solutions in the interest of the people," Borkar asserted.