KBM opposes amending Official Language Act

Margao: The Konkani Bhasha Mandal (KBM) on Friday opposed any amendment to the Official Language Act 1987 to include either Marathi or Konkani in the Roman script.
KBM president Chetan Acharya said that KBM will speak to all the 40 MLAs to ensure that this act is not amended, adding that they favour status quo for this act.
"The Konkani Bhasha Mandal respects the Roman script and Marathi but amending the act to make marathi as the official language will ensure jobs in the state government go to Maharashtrians and the inclusion of Roman script will change the education policy further and divide the students from the two communities—Hindus and Christians.It is a misconception that Christians do not follow the Devanagiri script as it is presently taught to students in schools," Acharya told reporters on Friday.
He also said that Konkani Bhasha Mandal will support social activist Camilo Barreto's demand that late Florian Vaz, who was martyred during the language agitation in the 1980s in Goa, be honoured by giving his family member a government job. "While Vaz deserves to be honoured, KBM is a registered society and not a government body. Hence, KBM cannot make this demand to the Goa BJP government," said the KBM president.
KBM members Anwesha Singbal and Hrishikesh Kadam were also present.