Panaji, June 18 (IANS) Stating that his mission to make Goa plastic free by 2018 was delayed because of his illness, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Monday said the state government will take strong steps to achieve the target.
"We will take powerful steps to ensure that Goa is plastic free by 2018. Because of my illness there was a delay, but I want to tell the people that these things need to happen," Parrikar said in his first public speech at a Goa Revolution Day event in Panaji, after his return from the US where he was being treated for advanced pancreatic cancer.
Parrikar, in his brief speech, also said that even educated people littered plastic because they lacked knowledge and vowed to make Goa a knowledge-rich society.
"Educated people throw plastic and dirt in the Mandovi river. When educated people do this, there is a reason behind it. Lack of knowledge is the reason," he said.
"We are educated, but we do not have knowledge. Let us not have mere education, but knowledge in Goa. Education gives us information, knowledge takes you beyond it."
