'Viksit Goa' vision will be achieved by 2037, decade ahead of national target: CM Sawant

Panaji, May 24 (PTI) The vision of 'Viksit Goa' will be achieved by 2037, a decade ahead of the national target of 2047, when the country celebrates 100 years of Independence, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said on Saturday.

He also said Goa stands fully committed to contribute its utmost as a vital part of Team India in the journey towards 'Viksit Bharat'.

Speaking at the 10th Governing Council meeting of NITI Aayog, which was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during the day at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi, Sawant said he started work on 'Viksit Goa at 2047' vision document based on five pillars.

These are physical infrastructure, economic infrastructure, social infrastructure, institutional infrastructure and environmental infrastructure, the CM said.

"Keeping in view the socio-economic and demographic indicators of Goa, I am confident our state will achieve the targets under Viksit Goa by 2037. which is 10 years ahead of the 2047 target set by the Union government," he asserted.

The meeting was focused on the vision of 'Viksit Rajya for Viksit Bharat at 2047', the CM said in a statement issued by his office here.

Sawant said he received invaluable guidance from PM Modi as strategies to realize this transformative national goal were deliberated.

"Goa stands fully committed to contributing its utmost as a vital part of Team India in the collective journey towards Viksit Bharat," the CM asserted.

Sawant said the Goa Electric Mobility Promotion Policy 2021 aims for 30 per cent of all new vehicle registrations to be electric by 2030.

"The policy includes a goal to convert 50 per cent of all ferries (crisscrossing rivers of Goa) to be electric by 2030. The policy aims to generate 4000-5000 direct and indirect jobs in the EV sector by 2025," he said.

Goa aims to achieve 50 per cent power generation through renewable energy sources by 2030, the CM added.

Hailing the state's health sector, he said, "Institutional deliveries are 99.7 per cent and Goa is aiming to bring present Infant Mortality Rate of 10.73 infant deaths per thousand live births to a single digit." Sawant also told NITI Aayog that Goa has witnessed explosive growth of 556 per cent under SVEP (Start-Up Village Entrepreneurship Program) during 2020-24, which has helped stop youth from migrating to cities.

"MSMEs contribute around 7 per cent to Goa's GSDP. Some 28-30 per cent of MSMEs are owned by women," he pointed out.

Under Ease of Doing Business, various means such as Single Window Platform, OPEN or Online Platform for Enterprise Network and other business reforms have been carried out to eliminate human touchpoint for processes, Sawant said.

"We have to increase the speed of development. If the Centre and all the States come together and work together like Team India, no goal is impossible," Niti Aayog in a post on X quoted the Prime Minister as saying. PTI RPS BNM