Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco was elected to the Fifth Legislative Assembly of the State of Goa on 7th June 2007 from the Curtorim Constituency. By polling 9320 votes he defeated his nearest opponent by a margin of 1,827 votes. The electoral battle was akin to the Biblical fight between David and Goliath as Regionaldo Lourenco was the nominee of the nascent Save Goa Front who was contesting his first Assembly elections. Ranged against him was the ruling Congress Party’s sitting MLA who had represented this segment for many years and besides being a MLA, was a minister quite a number of times and had even become the Chief Minister of Goa at one stage! History was created and Aleixo took up his task as a legislator very seriously.

PRIVATE MEMBERS BILL:
His most notable achievement, as on date, is the Private Members Bill that he moved on 24th March 2009 to amend the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act in order to give official sanction to Goa’s popular sport of dhirios. What is truly significant about this move is the fact that for the first time in the annals of the Goa Legislative Assembly, the House unanimously passed the bill!!
The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Goa Amendment) Bill, 2009
Seeks to amend Section 11 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, by seeking to insert a proviso after Sub-Section 1:
“Provided nothing in this section shall apply to Dhirio, a traditional animal sport in the State of Goa, involving bulls and buffaloes, which is organized in accordance with the guidelines issued from time to time by the Government of Goa.”

CAMPAIGN PROMISES LIVED UP:
Reginaldo Lourenco was elected as a candidate of the Save Goa Front that had taken up three main issues:

1. Scrapping the Special Economic Zones:
Besides participating in the general discussion on this issue on the floor of the House he took up this matter with the Chief Minister Digambar Kamat at every available opportunity.
However, as the Centre was yet to de-notify the Special Economic Zones in Goa, on 3rd February 2009, he asked this question:
Whether the Government is aware that the Central Government has still not de-notified three SEZs in respect of the State of Goa?

2. Upgrading Dabolim Airport to an International Airport:
In order to honour this promise made to his constituents, on 26th February 2008, Aleixo addressed a strong letter to the Public Works Department Minister, objecting to the proposed 6-lane highway in Goa, on grounds that this highway was aimed to facilitate the success of Mopa airport
On 4th February 2009 he posed this question to the Government in the Assembly:
Whether the Government of India or its agencies have sanctioned any amount for upgrading the airport at Dabolim to international level?

3. People’s participation in the Regional Plan:
Given the fact that there was a hue and cry over the Draft Regional Plan 2011, the Save Goa Front had promised to ensure that people would be taken into confidence in the preparation of the new Regional Plan.

Regionaldo Lourenco is the only MLA to become the chairman of the village level committee constituted to prepare the Regional Plan for the village. Casting aside protocol he readily bowed to the people’s wishes of having him chair the committee for the village of Curtorim.

On 18th August 2008 he posed this question to the government with regards to planning at village level:
Whether the Government has any proposal to suitably amend the Goa Town & Country Planning Act, so as to incorporate a mechanism to regulate mega housing projects in rural areas to ensure that the present rural infrastructure is not overloaded to the detriment of the locals?

On 17th November 2008, he addressed a letter to the Chief Minister highlighting the needs of rural areas when he urged that “special housing zones” be set up in rural areas to cope up with the demand for housing. However, he specifically stressed that these “special housing zones” be demarcated expressly on fallow land that is not cultivable.

Then again on 3rd February 2009 he posed the following question:
Whether there is any proposal of the Government for amending the Town & Country Planning Act so as to ensure that in the rural areas construction of buildings are restricted to ground + 1 floor to avoid over burdening of the rural infrastructure and maintain the beauty of our villages?

AGRICULTURE:
Hailing from the village known as the ‘granary of Salcete’, agriculture is very close to Reginaldo Lourenco’s heart. In order to promote agriculture and make it a lucrative occupation he has been providing mechanical implements to his constituents through the Curtorim Co-operative Service Society of which he is the Chairman. The Society has purchased three tractors and six power tillers, which are given to the farmers from the constituency free of cost. Besides, the society has now purchased a combined harvester as earlier experience of hiring the harvester from Devangiri in neighbouring Karnataka had proved to be very good.

Besides, on 13th February 2008 he wrote a letter to the Administrator of Communidades (South Goa) to issue NOC for cementing of the land reserved for threshing of paddy at Manora Raia, so that farmers are save the trouble of leveling and preparing this ground every time they have to thresh their harvest.

On 13th February 2008 he wrote another letter to the Revenue Minister asking for land to construct approach road to paddy fields at Sirjim Add, Muxiwaddo and Curguni Add in Curtorim so that the farmers can readily take mechanical implements to their fields.

He has also participated in the discussion on Agriculture on the floor of the Goa Legislative Assembly besides asking the following questions on 6th February 2009:
Whether the Government has initiated steps to increase the subsidy provided by the Soil Conservation Division of the Agriculture Department to the Farmers or Tenants Association to repair and protect other internal bunds as assured to the House?

Whether the Government is aware that the sluice gate protective and internal bunds at Cortalim gave away recently causing inundation of saline water into the paddy fields causing great losses to farmers?

EDUCATION:
Education has always been a priority for Reginaldo Lourenco. Every child has to have education irrespective of caste, religion, financial status and even mental ability is his guiding principle.

The St. Vincent de Paul Special School managed by St. Vincent de Paul Society at Curtorim is his brainchild. Started since the last academic year of 2008-2009, this school currently caters to 12 students aged between 6 years to 35 years hailing from Curtorim and the neighbouring villages. The school has been provided with a vehicle to pick and drop the students. His dream is to build up this complex to provide residential facilities to the needy.

A firm believer of giving everybody equal opportunities, in a letter addressed to the Education Minister on 12th September 2008 he advocated the cause of freedom to choose the medium of instruction. However, as no action was taken on this matter, on 13th July 2009, he moved the following much debated Private Members Resolution:
This House strongly recommends to the Government of Goa to amend its policy on primary education and bring it in tune with Rule 6 of the Goa School Education Rules and grant in aid to all primary schools where the teaching at the primary stage is in the mother tongue of the child irrespective of whether the mother tongue is in vernacular language or otherwise.

Besides on 18th February 2008, he wrote a letter to the Chief Minister requesting that schools be permitted to open new divisions to meet the growing demand for admissions. This was followed up with the following question asked in the Legislative Assembly on 5th February 2009:
Whether the Government has any proposal to allow private aided Higher Secondary Schools to open division in Standard XI in the Vocational stream of Catering and Restaurant Management (CRM) without financial liability on the Government by permitting the private schools to collect tuition and other fees as approved by the Government?

Then again, he asked the following question in the Legislative Assembly on 5th February 2009 to ensure that private schools do not exploit teachers and parents:
Whether the Government is aware that several private aided Primary Schools in Goa are provided with 3 or less then 3 teachers to cater to the requirements of 4 divisions/classes jeopardizing quality of education at the Primary level which is the foundation for education?

GARBAGE MANAGEMENT:
The mess at Sonsddo became a topic of public debate after Reginaldo Lourenco went public on the mismanagement of the site. He was compelled to do so as the authorities did not respond to the letter addressed by him on 16th January 2009 to Chief Minister regarding non-release of funds to manage Sonsddo site. It was only after the public debate that a solution to this stink bomb of Salcete, appears to be in sight.

CRZ:
Residents of the Goan coastline faced a real threat of their dwelling houses being demolished due to the implementation of the Coastal Regulation Zone Act without proper application of mind. Reginaldo Lourenco was the first to raise this issue when on 26th March 2009 he posed the following question:
Whether the Government is aware that Ramponkars and other residents of the coastal area of the State will have their dwelling houses demolished for violating the CRZ rules in view of the directives of the Hon’ble high Court?

This issue featured prominently at the Lok Sabha elections held in May and Chairperson of the United Progressive Alliance, Mrs. Sonia Gandhi took cognizance of it. However, as the threat persisted, on 28th July 2009, he tabled the following Calling Attention Motion:
Fear and anxiety in the minds of the public of the grave threat to the livelihood of hundreds and thousands of fisherman on the coastal belt of Goa due to the indiscriminate and inhuman enforcement of CRZ Regulations demolishing their houses within 200 metres of HTL in pursuance of the High Court Order.

It was only after this debate, that there was a respite and the Panchayats were guided on how to deal with the issue.

LAW AND ORDER:
Being a law abiding citizen who detests violence of any nature, Reginaldo Lourenco has been agitating over the deteriorating law and order situation in tranquil and peaceful Goa.

On 28th June 2009, he tabled the following Calling Attention Motion:
Fear and anxiety amongst the members of the public whose security to life and property in Goa is threatened by acts of dacoity & kidnapping committed by the migrants residing in Goa and the inadequate action of the Government to screen and identify the migrants who are residing in Goa and prepare dossiers for reference as and when required and the failure of the Government to enact an appropriate legislation that could empower the Police officials to prosecute those owners in whose houses the migrant reside without furnishing the required information to the Police, although the swift action of the Police in tracking and arresting the kidnapers with the help of local and rescuing a resident from Vasco who had been recently kidnapped needs to be appreciated.

Then again he tabled the following Calling Attention Motion:
Fear and anxiety in the minds of the public of abuse and physical assaults of minor children and the under trials in Government run Apna Ghar are reported on and off.

Recently one more teenager Safigul Noor Islam had fled from the Apna Ghar due to fear of being killed by other inmates of the said Ghar. The fact that such incidents have been occurring too often indicates that the appropriate authorities have not taken effective steps to control the situation.

The inmates of the said Ghar most of whom are being investigated or put on trial for petty crimes need to be provided with an environment that ensures their safety to life and conducive for reforming them so that they could be churned out in the mainstream of the society as good citizens. Absence of such measures is a matter of great concern and causes anxiety in the minds of the public and therefore, there is a need to draw the attention of the Government on the issue for evolving appropriate measures to remedy the situation.

KONKANI IN ROMAN SCRIPT:
Having been brought up in Salcete it is but natural that Reginaldo Lourenco has a soft corner for Konkani in Roman script and that is the reason, on 5th February 2009, he posed the following question to the Government to read its mind:
Whether the Government has received representation from NGOs, institutions or persons requesting to amend Official Languages Act of Goa so as to grant official status for Konkani in Roman Script?

MAKING LIFE EASIER:
Taking cognizance of the changing times, Reginaldo Lourenco has provided his village of Curtorim with an ambulance that can be used by anybody in an emergency to transport patients to hospital.

In order to make Curtorkar’s final journey on earth a little easy, he has provided them with a hearse van.

By providing an utility vehicle, he has tried to make life in the village more enjoyable, as this vehicle is used by the electricity department staff in emergencies and even to transport electrical fixtures, it is also used to provide fertilizers and other agricultural inputs to farmers.