THE GOAN NETWORK
PANAJI:
The Congress State President Amit Patkar along with some supporters on Friday stormed into the cabin of PWD Principal Chief Engineer Uttam Parsekar at Altinho to protest the dilapidated condition of the Social Welfare Department office in Panjim.
Congress later claimed that Parsekar was found "busy listening to music."
In a press release, the Congress media cell in-charge Amarnath Panjikar said Patkar and the other party activists had intended to question Parsekar on the PWD's negligence towards heritage and other buildings housing government offices.
In the ensuing discussions with Parsekar, the party has demanded structural and safety audits and immediate repairs of all edifices from where government departments function, the statement said.
The party said the action was initiated after the recent incident where the ceiling of the Social Welfare Department, partly collapsed.
The delegation led by Patkar questioned Parsekar over the failure to undertake safety audits and repair works of the government buildings which the department itself had declared as “Deteriorating and in Dilapidated Condition” in 2019.
"He was found listening to loud music which continued even after the delegation started narrating the issue to him. Eventually, the annoyed party workers compelled the PCE to stop the loud music," Panjikar's statement said.
"The carelessness of the PWD on repairs and renovations of government buildings including heritage buildings shows the total insensitivity towards the common people," Patkar told the media later pointing out that many people often visit these offices.
He also raised suspicion that the BJP government is deliberately ignoring the maintenance of heritage buildings so that they collapse and the land can then be given to crony capitalists to construct multi-storeyed malls.
