Panaji, Jun 5: As the protestors are readying to shut Goa for a day on Monday angered over inclusion of English as Medium of Instruction (MOI), the state government machinery is leaving no stone unturned to ensure that the strike flops.
 
Bharatiya Bhasha Suraksha Manch (BBSM), which has given a strike call, has claimed that the support for it is bloating every passing day and people will voluntarily shut their establishments, shops and remain in homes on Monday.
 
BBSM President Shashikala Kakodkar said that emergency services like pharmacies, ambulances and hospitals are excluded from the strike. She said that the day long strike should be enough to open the blinded eyes of the government, who is all out to kill Indian languages.
 
Kakodkar said that several schools in the state have agreed to co-operate with the strike call. The Monday, June 6, will have schools re-opening for the academic year.
 
Getting political muscles for the strike BBSM claimed that they received support from political parties including Nationalist Congress party (NCP), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) and Shiv Sena (SS), who will be joining the strike.
 
The state government has also pulled up its sleeves to counter the strike.
 
Chief Minister Digambar Kamat, in a high level meeting, held on Friday, has asked all the departments to be on their toes for the entire day. The departments will pull in all the resources to ensure that the protestors don’t succeed in paralyzing the life.
 
Sources stated that all the police officers would be accompanied by a magistrate so that, in case of necessity, lathi-charge could be ordered on the spot. It is also decided to hit back, if there is any damage to government property.
 
Police department, on the other hand, has learnt lessons from its recent misadventure in handling Balli tribal agitation. Sources stated that a high level meeting with Chief Secretary has asked the officers not to be lax in handling the crisis.
 
The department is expected to have preventive arrests from Sunday night onwards. BBSM has said that 50 of their supporters have been summoned to the Bicholim and Porvorim police stations.