PANAJI
The Goa Cabinet, led by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, gave its nod to a major shake-up of the monolithic Public Works Department (PWD), by which a separate Department of Drinking Water (DDW) will be carved out to handle the State’s water supply more efficiently and effectively.
The government also has plans to dismember another arm of the PWD, which handles sewerage systems, and hand over the task to the Goa State Sewerage Corporation.
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, who addressed the customary post-Cabinet press conference on Wednesday, said that there will be separate budget heads for the PWD and the impending DDW in the upcoming budget for 2025-26.
The budget session of the Goa Legislative Assembly is expected to begin in the last week of March.
The new water supply department, meanwhile, will be allied with the Water Resources Department, and the PWD will be left only with its ‘Roads and Buildings’ divisions.
Sawant, however, said the WRD will continue to have its own separate budget head as before, and the new DDW will have a separate chief engineer, other necessary engineers, and staff to exclusively manage the State’s water supply.
He said engineers of the PWD who wish to move to the new DDW will be permitted to do so, adding that this new department will be tasked with planning for the State’s water supply needs for the next 25 years.
Sawant also said that the responsibility for the construction and maintenance of dams and ensuring water is provided at all the major drinking water projects will continue to remain with the WRD.
GMC gets nod for contractual lecturers
PANAJI: In other decisions, the Cabinet gave its approval for the Goa Medical College and Hospital to hire three lecturers in its pediatric department on contract basis.
Meanwhile, Sawant said the cases of cheating Goans with the lure of jobs abroad which has come to light following the US deportations in which two Goan youth were included, is a matter of concern.
“Young people should be careful before paying or registering for a job. The NRI Commissioner’s Office is following up on the complaints of two youth who have been cheated,” Sawant said.
