Panaji:
Goa Governor Satya Pal Malik on Friday urged citizens to fall back on agriculture and fishing to tide over the economic crisis, citing that tourism in the state will return to normalcy once the COVID-19 pandemic ends.
In his message on the eve of 74th Independence Day, the Governor said, “Every effort is being made by the state government to revive the tourism sector. However, the fact is that it will only come back to its usual once the pandemic is gone.” It is time for citizens to fall back on more traditional occupations such as agriculture and fishing to tide over the fall in their incomes and the state economy, he said.
“Agriculture was the main occupation in Goa in the earlier days. With the growth of tourism, mining, industries and service sectors, it gradually reached a state of neglect,” he said. “The COVID-19 crisis has made us realise that there is a dire need for revival of agriculture sector in Goa,” the Governor said.
Goa is capable of becoming self-sufficient in agricultural production and the government should remove all bottlenecks to resurrect the sector, he said. In his address, Malik also paid tribute to COVID-19 warriors including doctors, paramedical staff, policemen, among others, he said.
