CANACONA
Ridiculing the ‘Acche Din’ promised by BJP government, the Congress in Canacona hit out at the government, after claiming that tribal people have been forced to take care of their own necessities, including the construction of a kacha road.
Canacona Block Congress President Elvis Fernandes, former minister Isidore Fernandes and his supporters were on a visit to Gaondongrim and met with people to ascertain their grievances.
“We were surprised to see locals of Indrawada constructing a kacha road of around 120 metres. People claim it was a long-pending demand, and that they have been begging with the MLA to help them construct the same for the past three years," said Fernandes.
A local, Laximan Gaonkar, informed the Congress team that they were forced to construct the road themselves, as the panchayat and the Minister had failed to pay heed to their requests on numerous occasions.
“Can one believe this? On the one side, our local MLA Ramesh Tawadkar is the tribal minister and has crores of rupees in tribal funds, but these locals who are 100% tribals have had to spend their own hard-earned money to construct roads,” Isidore told The Goan.
Gaonkar explained how the 34 families struggled for six months to construct a 40,000 litre water tank at Indrawada (Gaondongrim), after encountering hardship of fetching water from the Damono hillock, which around 6 kms from Indrawada.
“The residents, which comprise 34 families, contributed to collect Rs 15 lakh to purchase construction material and to hire workforce for the construction of this 40,000-litre water tank,” Gaonkar told the Congress team.
“About 18 families from other side of Indrawada cannot benefit from this water tank and have to fetch water from the Wavulla hill, which is about 7 kms from Indrawada,” he added.
Expressing surprise that the residents of Indrawada were made to fend for themselves, Elvis Fernandes asked: “Is this MLA for the welfare of tribals or for self-development?”
Isidore added, “The tribal people in the locality still remember how they stood behind Tawadkar during the last assembly polls and had assumed that 'Acche Din' would come after elections. Are these people forced to bring 'Acche Din' all by themselves, while tribal funds are exhausted for self-development?” asked Isidore.
