PORVORIM
In a relief to thousands of State government employees the home loan scheme which had been withdrawn will be restored soon, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant announced on Friday.
Sawant who was speaking after inaugurating the new building of the Directorate of Accounts, 'Kautilya Lekha Bhavan', at Porvorim said that many "technical difficulties" had cropped up because of which it was withdrawn.
"The loan repayment process was rigorous. Often, the government itself had to pay the borrower's installments. Sometimes the installment of the borrower was not paid for one and a half to two years," Sawant said.
He said, in one case the loan had not been cancelled even after the employee retired and the government had to come forward to pay his debt.
The chief minister said, the new home loan scheme will be simple, easy and convenient.
"We are thinking of putting the burden of a small part of the interest portion on the government. For this we are going to tie up with various banks," Sawant said, adding that the schemes and subsidies of various departments will also be routed through these banks.
Sawant also spoke of the cashless digital payment gateways adopted in some government departments and added that it will be introduced in all remaining public service offices of the government as well.
There will be no need to bring cash to the government department in a few days, he added.
The Lekha Bhavan-Kautilya building at Porvorim which replaces the iconic ground-plus one tiled-roof 'Fazenda' building of the Directorate of Accounts in the capital Panaji was inaugurated by Sawant in the presence of Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte, PWD Minister Nilesh Cabral, Curtorim MLA Aleixio Reginaldo Lourenco, Finance Secretary Dr V Candavelou, IAS, Director of Accounts Deelip Humaraskar, Sarpanch of Penha de Franca Sapnil Chodankar and ZP member Ms Kavita Naik.
Sawant said, the Leha Bhavan-Kautilya has been constructed on a 5,300 square meter plot at a cost of Rs 44 crores in a record 30-months time.
The paintings in the building depict the rich cultural heritage of Goa and youth should study this rich ancient culture of Goa, he added.
Khaunte mentioned that good infrastructure is a must to provide best administrative services to the public.
The Jivbadada Kerkar training hall is beautiful and should be made multi-functional so that other people and institutions also can use it. The paintings in this building are also very good, he said.
Dr Sawant inaugurated the Jivbadada Kerkar training hall and also released the booklet on the List of Accounts Cadre.
