The village faces acute water shortages
Nuvem was a quiet little village that lived off the land andsent some of its people to the industrial estates around to eke out a living.Over a decade later, things have changed, but not for the better. The sizeablenumber of migrants in Nuvem is threatening to change the demography of theconstituency, even as crimes in the area have shown a gradual rise.
The village also faces an acute water shortage with watersupply restricted to only one hour a day. “Migrants working at shipyards inRassaim are a huge menace. Sewage and garbage has become a big problem inplaces where migrants live,” said Loutolim Sarpanch Maria Monteiro.
The migrants from the Verna industrial estate, Rassaimshipyard and those employed in the coastal belt of Betalbatim and Majorda-Utordahave been wreaking havoc in the constituency consisting of six panchayats.“Migrants employed at Verna Industrial Estate and staying in Nagoa are usuallyinvolved in eve-teasing, robberies, drunken behavior and are a real menace tothe village,” said Nagoa panch, Anzil Fernades. Acknowledging the problem,Nuvem MLA and former tourism minister, Mickky Pacheco vows to ease out themigrants from his constituency in a gradual manner.
“The problem starts with large multi-nationals in the Vernaindustrial estate that employ non-Goans. I have started visiting some of thecompanies in Verna and have requested them to employ locals in their units,”Pacheco said.
When locals are gainfully employed they will refrain fromrenting their rooms to migrants and slowly the influx will transform tomigrants leaving the state, Pacheco claims.
Mickky Pacheco has an uphill task to bring about a change inhis new “poor” constituency compared to his former “westernised” Loutolimconstituency. “Nuvem is a different constituency. Here I have people comingfrom poor backgrounds, mostly from the SC/ST/OBC community. Farming is theironly sustenance. My former Loutolim constituency had more beaches and theproblems too were more related to tourism. My voters then were more westernisedand had high standard of living,” said Pacheco.
Pacheco understands that he will have to begin from scratchto bring about a perceptible change in the constituency.
According to Pacheco the previous MLA took advantage of thepoor people in the constituency and provided them with insignificant jobs likelinesman and helpers in the electricity department.
“I want to encouragethe residents from Nuvem, Loutolim, Verna, Nagoa, Majorda and Betalbatim totake up agriculture. At the same time I want to improve the literacy levels inthe constituency and provide them better jobs,” he added.
