Newindpress

Honnavar, Apr 26: Mahabaleshwar Sail, a noted Konkani fiction writer and winner of the Kendra Sahitya Academy award, has said that he will actively participate in the movement launched by Goa Konkani Rajya Ekikarana Samiti at Sadashivgad near here for the merger of Karwar, Joida and Haliyal taluks in Goa State.

Talking to reporters on Wednesday, he said that Konkani was the mother tongue of a majority of people in these taluks of Uttara Kanada district and also said that there were 2.5 lakh Konkani speaking people in these taluks.

He said that the Samiti members had been visiting every village in these taluks to mobilise opinion on the merger.

‘‘We have been receiving a good response’’, he said and pointed out that Konkani as a language has its own independent identity. It had been included in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution. Every year more than 160 books were published in Konkani. Goa University had published six volumes of an Encyclopedia in Konkani. The University had also introduced Post Graduate courses in Konkani. Phd degrees were also awarded in the language by the University. Further Konkani is regarded a state language in Goa.

He said that Devanagri script was considered most suitable for the Konkani language. This script was used in Goa. As far as Karnataka was concerned, opposition to Devnagari script came from Errick Ozario, president of the State Konkani Academy. But a majority of Konkani speaking people preferred only Devanagari script, he said.