the goan I network
MARGAO
PWD Minister Deepak Pauskar has assured the people of South Goa that the government has now set 2020 as the deadline for the commissioning of JICA water project, as the minister conducted a surprise inspection of the PWD head office, Margao, on Tuesday morning.
The minister further said that road repair works will commence no sooner the ongoing rains subside, adding that hot-mixing will take place in November.
“The government has appointed a new contractor to execute the JICA water works. The work order is expected to be issued by next week,” he said, adding that water supply issues in South Goa will be addressed by 2020 as the project will be completed in all respects next year.
Meanwhile, accompanied by PWD officer Nitin Neurekar and others, the PWD minister descended at the Margao PWD office on Tuesday morning for a surprise inspection. He hopped from one division to another and checked the attendance registers in the presence of the senior officers.
To his shock and surprise, the minister found that the bio-metric finger scan reader in the PWD office is not functioning for a long time now. When questioned, senior officials only replied that they have written to another division to get the bio-metric finger scan repaired.
The minister was further informed that the bio-metric finger scan machine has no power back up, with staff pointing out that frequent power outages have damaged the machine.
Meanwhile, the PWD minister has cleared road works amounting to Rs 17 crore in Benaulim constituency, including construction of the road underbridge at the Seraulim railway crossing along with the approach roads. He told Benaulim MLA Churchill Alemao that whatever works suggested by the MLA has been sanctioned and will be completed within the set deadline.
