MARGAO
As incumbent South Goa MP Narendra Sawaikar flaunts his report card on the projects initiated and executed under the MPLAD scheme, two major projects -- Closed Circuit TV (CCTV) projects worth crores of rupees of former MPs in the South Goa Lok Sabha constituency either lay grounded or have failed to take off till date.
Blame it on bureaucratic red tape or simply the lack of will to make optimum use of these projects for public good, crores of public funds under the MPLAD scheme are either lying blocked or its spending has not benefitted the intended beneficiary “ the public at large.
If former MP Francisco Sardinha’s ambitious CCTV project worth around Rs 70 lakh is grounded for want of maintenance, former Rajya Sabha MP Shantaram Naik’s Rs four-crore CCTV camera project in Fatorda has failed to take off till date.
Take the case of the CCTV project initiated by former MP Francisco Sardinha. At the fag end of his tenure in 2014, the former MP had sanctioned CCTV cameras (worth close to Rs 70 lakh) for installation in major towns, including the commercial capital and the port town of Vasco.
Take note, the CCTV surveillance cameras were installed in South Goa. These assisted the men-in-uniform to book traffic violators and maintain a vigil on anti-socials. Five years down the lane, the surveillance cameras are craving for attention for want of maintenance by the authorities. Successive Collectors, who headed the district administration, only paid lip service to the demand to revive the cameras. Umpteen meetings presided by officials of the District Collectorate, police, traffic and municipal officials have ended in utter failure to revive the surveillance cameras.
“The CCTV cameras installed in the major towns under the MPLAD scheme had to a large extent assisted the traffic cops to book violators by sitting at the Margao district headquarters. They had also come in handy to zero in on miscreants involved in house-breaking thefts, before the cameras were rendered defunct for want of maintenance,” remarked a traffic officer.
Even as Sardinha’s CCTV project under the MPLAD scheme lay grounded for want of maintenance, Rajya Sabha MP Shantaram Naik’s grandiose CCTV project for Fatorda constituency has hit a road block. The Rs four-crore project did take off in the constituency, with even the TCP Minister Vijai Sardesai launching the project on Goa Liberation Day in 2017, only to be grounded by former District Collector Anjali Sehrawat on grounds the project was being executed without following the codal formalities.
Sehrawat had since been transferred from South Goa and her successor Dr Tariq Thomas, who had promised to bring the Rs four crore project back on the rails, too was shunted out of office within six months. The fate of the ambitious project remains uncertain, even though sources in the know now say that the District Collectorate has sent the file to the home department to address certain queries since the project will be manned by the men-in-uniform.
With the poll code in force and all work relating to tendering and execution of projects being kept on hold, the fate of the two ambitious CCTV projects will be known only after May 23 when the results of the Lok Sabha election will be announced.
