MARGAO
Benaulim MLA Churchill Alemao has strongly batted for the Benaulim Health Centre, saying neither he nor the government will do any rethink on the project sanctioned for the benefit of the people inhabiting Salcete coastal belt.
Addressing the media, Churchill said the people of entire Benaulim constituency have given him the signal to go ahead with the health centre project. “Some people are opposing the location of the health centre project in Benaulim on flimsy grounds. The project is coming on the Provedoria land and the site in question is not a water body or a low lying area,” he told the media on Wednesday.
Saying that Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and the Health Minister has accorded sanction for the project by issuing instructions to hand over the Provedoria land to the Health department, Churchill said some people are opposing the project for their self interest. “The Provedoria land admeasures around 7,000 square metres. And, we have been told that a sizeable portion of the land has been encroached upon by some persons. I am even ready to settle the people with the approval of the government, but shifting the project to a different site is totally ruled out,” he asserted.
He said the Benaulim panchayat has adopted a resolution in support of the health centre, adding that the demarcation of the Provedoria land will start soon. “I had proposed the health centre project in Benaulim as Salcete coastal belt has no health centre of its own. Our people are forced to either go to Cansaulim or Chinchinim Primary Health Centres to avail medical benefits,” he said, adding that the Benaulim PHC will help the population along the entire coastal belt right from Cavelossim to Colva.
The Benaulim MLA has made a fervent plea to the constituents of Benaulim constituency to take the Covid vaccine jab and secure them from the second wave of Coronavirus. “After I made an appeal to the Chief Minister and the Health Minister, the government has started Covid vaccination in the coastal villages,” he said, while requesting the people to avail the facility.
Churchill said he had requested the Chief Minister and the Health Minister to adopt the UK mechanism of fighting the Covid surge by drafting officials door-to-door, but said the government could not implement the system for want of manpower.
