the goan I network
PERNEM
After prolonged delays and several agitations, the new bus stand at Pernem, which was hastily inaugurated but left incomplete for one-and-half years, will finally be opened for public use on August 15.
“After completing all formalities, the bus stand will be thrown open to the public on August 15,” said Tourism minister and Pernem MLA Manohar (Babu) Azgaonkar.
He was speaking to reporters along the sidelines of a meeting with GSIDC Chairman and Sanvordem MLA Deepak Pawaskar, officials of transport department, KTC and GSIDC at the government guest house in Pernem.
Incidentally, Azgaonkar had stated last month that all work on the Pernem bus stand would be completed by June 30. An additional Rs 2 crore had been spent to complete remaining works.
Asked why the June 30 deadline to complete the bus stand was not met, Azgaonkar said he had convened a meeting with officials concerned in the Secretariat.
“I found out that the bus stand is yet to get necessary NOCs and some work is still pending. After completing all formalities, the bus stand will be made available for public use,” he added.
It is learnt that the Pernem Municipal Council (PMC) has not granted an occupancy certificate, as the transport department was yet to handover necessary documents to the PMC.
The state-of-the-art Pernem bus stand had been inaugurated in December 2016 by Manohar Parrikar during his tenure as defence minister in the presence of then chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar and minister Rajendra Arlekar.
The inauguration of the incomplete bus stand two months ahead of the assembly poll was widely believed to have been for electoral gains and the project remained pending for over one-and-half years, as works were still incomplete and it did not have all approvals from authorities concerned.
As a result, the KTC refused to take possession of the incomplete bus stand and the delay had been caused for several agitations by the Congress party and locals in Pernem taluka.
Azgaonkar had also been critical of the prolonged delay and had claimed that the previous BJP-led government had never explained the reasons for inaugurating the bus stand when it was still incomplete.
