Goa CM asks speaker to appoint translator in assembly

Panaji: Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Friday urged the Assembly Speaker to appoint a translator in the House after an MLA complained he could not understand conversation in Marathi between two legislators.

The issue was raised during the Question Hour when Health Minister Vishwajit Rane and MGP MLA Sudin Dhavalikar started conversing in the House in Marathi.

Churchill Alemao (NCP) took objection, claiming he does not understand the language and hence Speaker Rajesh Patnekar should provide a translator so that he can also participate in discussion.

Intervening in the matter, Sawant urged the Speaker to appoint a translator before the next session of the Assembly.

"We are speaking in Hindi, Marathi, English and you may have some members soon talking in Kannada," he said.

"You never know, a day will come when we will have people speaking in Kannada here (in the Assembly)", Sawant quipped.

Konkani and Marathi are the two major languages spoken in the coast state which has Maharashtra and Karnataka as its neighbours.