the goan I network
PANAJI
Senior citizens who go for a walk at Miramar beach were thrilled on Thursday to notice a couple of new benches at the beach, where they could sit, rest and chat for a bit. The benches appeared Thursday after months of complaining to officials that existing benches at the beach had been vandalised, broken, and dangerous to sit on.
Said a senior citizen talking to ‘The Goan’ on Friday, “We are so happy that there are new benches. Senior citizens use these benches in the mornings and evenings.”
He further explained that after the benches had been broken around six or seven months ago, the citizens tried getting in touch with government officials including the MLA and ex-MLA, but no-one could get them fixed. One of them finally got in touch with the Goa Consumer Action Network (GOACAN), and co-ordinator Roland Martins took up the matter with the Collectorate and the Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC).
However, though the GTDC had earlier washed their hands off the matter saying that Panaji’s Smart City Mission (IPSCDL) would taken care of the development of the beach, the Corporation, in a change of heart, put up the new benches in the end. According to a GTDC official working in the Project Cell of the Corporation, six new benches had been fixed.
Senior citizens were seen sitting there with big smiles on their faces. Said one of them to ‘The Goan’, “After they were broken, we used to bring cartons to put on the benches and sit. According to us, it is GOACAN who got the matter sorted out.”
