Managing garbage is proving to be a toughest challenge
Late Mathany Saldanha’s 15 page Manifesto for Cortalimassembly constituency titled ‘Service to the People’ reads thus – “Will fightto safeguard the rights of the downtrodden and the marginalized and see thatjustice prevails at all levels of the society.”
To carry forward the legacy of the legendry socialist leaderlate Mathany Saldanha, his wife, Environment Minister Alina Saldanha has adaunting task at hand.
The toughest problem at hand is to tackle the gargantuangarbage problem which is threatening to spill at its seams in Cortalim.
Twice the MLA along with her well-wishers took up a projectto clean up the area at Zuarinagar. But no sooner the area was cleaned, thegarbage came back in the area within a span of few days.
Scarcity of water and constant power fluctuation are twoother issues that Alina will have to put her mind on.
Barely six month in the cabinet Alina has big responsibilityand even bigger expectation from her constituents and people at large.
Her immediate achievement was to get administrative andtechnical approvals to four major projects – markets for Cortalim and Cansulim,Primary Health Centre at Cansulim and Dando-Mollo Bridge.
However, implementing the manifesto of late Mathany will becertainly a challenging task to the debutant MLA.
“I believe it is never too late to get special status forGoa under Article 371 of the Constitution of India and my fight for specialstatus will continue. Even the first Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru hadpromised special status for Goa,” Alina said.
She said that differentiating her constituents on politicallines would be unfair, as she is keen to implement a separate manifestoprepared for slum dwellers at Zuarinagr to provide them a market, park, libraryand mini primary health center.
Land is scarce in Zuarinagar but she claims that the CM hashad a couple of rounds of meeting with Zuari Industries for land agreement.
However, keeping her constituency clean and hygienic seem tobe the biggest headache, as her two garbage cleanliness drive in Zuarinagrvanished within short span of time.
“We are back to square one when it comes to garbage. Butrecently a pilot project was initiated to collect garbage from source and storeit in an isolated shade which will be later transferred to a South Goa garbagetreatment plant,” she said.
She also sought time to improve the sewerage network, watersupply and to cap the power fluctuation problem hampering the constituency.
Her rivals allege that her inexperience is an advantage toher party colleagues, who influences her in decision making.
“I won’t buy that argument. I do agree that politics is newto me and I do take advice. But when it comes to final decision it’s my own,”Alina said.
As she walks in the footsteps of her late husband to safeguard environment, she has cracked the whip on proposed projects that weredetrimental to environment. Marina in Sancaole, Mini India Park in Quelossimand real estate projects on forest land were scrapped on her instructions.
