THEN: Chief Minister Pramod Sawant at the Cutbona jetty with face masks when the jetty was hit by Cholera in September. On September 11, the new Cutbona jetty was occupied by scrap material and scrap vessels.
MARGAO
On September 11, 2024, when Chief Minister Pramod Sawant visited the Cutbona fishing jetty along with Environment Minister Aleixo Sequeira after cholera claimed the lives of four fishing crew workers, he was not only wearing face masks, but tension was writ large on his face how to tackle the outbreak.
That’s not all. Both Pramod Sawant and Aleixo Sequeira came across a messy state of affairs at the Cutbona jetty, with the 226-metre jetty playing host to scrap and unused vessels and the jetty a dumping ground for dinghies and fishing nets.
On November 3, 2024, a little over a month and half later, a smiling Chief Minister returned back to Cutbona jetty along with Fisheries Minister Nilkhant Harlankar and Environment Minister Aleixo Sequeira. The CM not only inaugurated the jetty, but he saw for himself the turnaround at the Cutbona jetty on Sunday, how the scrap vessels, besides the scrap that has disappeared from the jetty.
He recalled that the work on the jetty was taken up by the Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation during his stint as the GSIDC vice-chairperson. “Work on the jetty was completed over three years ago, but the jetty was misused in a big way. People have the habit of misusing public infrastructure. When cholera struck the Cutbona jetty, I had seen the mess at the jetty. This jetty is meant for the boat owners, but we found certain owners spoiled the business of others. Since certain boat owners were creating problems, the government had to crack a whip,” he said.
The Chief Minister had an advise or two for the boat owners. “The Cutbona fishing jetty is almost 600 metres and a longest jetty in the State. The government creates the infrastructure, but the users have to take care of the amenities,” he said.
Environment Minister Aleixo Sequeira he was afraid initially when the Chief Minister gave him the responsibility to clear the Cutbona jetty of the mess. “Credit goes to the Chief Minister for giving me the freedom to operate. The boat owners under the Cutbona Boat Owners Federation also deserve kudos for cooperating with the government without which we would not have achieved our target at Cutbona,” Sequeira said.
Stakeholders want govt to execute work on training wall at River Sal mouth
MARGAO: With the new 226-metre long Cutbona jetty finally inaugurated on Sunday, stakeholders have now requested the government to execute work on the long-delayed training wall at the mouth of river Sal.
Blaming the locals for putting spokes in the training wall project, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Sunday requested Velim MLA Cruz Silva to find out who has filed the case in the National Green Tribunal to stop work on the training wall. “Let the boat owners go to the residence of the person who had filed the case since he is responsible for destroying the business of the boat owners. It is very easy to file a case, but they don’t see the repercussions on the business activity,” he said.
He added: The government had taken up the two projects, the new 226-metre long Cutbona jetty and the training wall at the mouth of river Sal. While the jetty is ready, the training wall could not see light of the day because of the court case. There may be heavy cost overrun because of the delay.”
