MARGAO
As the local Members of Parliament brace up to unveil their report card on the projects executed in their constituencies under the Member of Parliament Local Area Development (MPLAD) scheme, there seems no solution or mechanism in place towards the upkeep and maintenance of projects under the scheme.
In fact, projects worth lakhs of rupees implemented under the scheme over the years have been craving for attention for want of upkeep and maintenance. With curtains set to come down on the current five-year term of the incumbent MPs, three glaring instances of MPLAD projects lying in a state of neglect in the commercial capital, throwing up questions over the maintenance of these projects.
Reason: Be it the Panchayats and the Municipalities, these local bodies say they simply lack the wherewithal and the required funds to take up maintenance of the MPLAD projects. That’s not all. Instances of politics blocking the maintenance of the MPLAD projects too have come to light with the projects executed by the MPs allowed to rot by the powers that be to suit their political interests.
Welcome to the Commercial capital, where as many as three MPLAD projects worth lakhs of rupees have been lying in a state of neglect for around a decade now. All the three projects coming under the Margao Municipal jurisdiction have been craving for attention from the local civic body, but were left to rot and decay for reasons best known to the councillors and Municipal babus and the powers that be controlling the civic body.
Sorry state of steps to heritage Monte Hill Chapel
It’s around a decade now since the sloppy land along the heritage Hospicio building was given a facelift by MP Francisco Sardinha under the MPLAD scheme during his stint as MP 10 years ago, with steps, connecting the Hospicio road to the Monte Hill road.
After the makeover, the entire area became a centre of activity, frequented by local residents for leisure. It was even announced that the entire place could play host to events for children and the local schools.
Soon, the place turned into a hub for open drinking and as it was slowly and steadily invaded by miscreants after sunset. Despite pleas by the local residents to protect the area from being invaded by vandals, neither the local Margao Municipality nor the police made any efforts to keep the miscreants at bay.
As it turned out, the decorative lamps soon became the target of the vandals. Abandoned liquor and beer bottles at the place became the order of the day. Even the steps were not spared by the vandals.
Suggestions to protect the area on the lines of the adjoining Ana Fonte garden by security personnel and introducing timings for visitors, was never a serious thought by the local civic body. Resultantly, the beautified area now lies in a state of neglect for the last 10 years.
Defunct CCTV cameras
The entire commercial capital was brought under the scanner of the ‘Big Brother’ around 10 years ago, thanks to South Goa MP Francisco Sardinha. Reason: The South Goa MP liberally sanctioned funds for the implementation of the CCTV cameras in Margao, a scheme which was later extended to other towns of South Goa.
The CCTV cameras not only helped the Traffic Cell of the Goa Police to keep a close eye on the traffic violators by sitting in the district police headquarters, but the system came as a helping hand to the police in the investigations of crimes.
Sadly, the CCTV project is down and out, as a result of which the Traffic Cell manning the traffic violators have also shut down. Reason: There was no maintenance of the cameras worth its name. In fact, the local Margao civic body was found wanting in taking up the periodic maintenance of the cameras.
Traffic officials say the Margao civic body remained unmoved on the question of maintenance of the cameras, as a result of which the contractor quit the job as funds were not forthcoming from the MMC or the district authorities.
Till date, however, neither the CCTV cameras have been repaired nor replaced by new cameras. A proposal moved by the Margao Municipal Council to the South Goa district Collector, the nodal officer under the MPLAD scheme, to explore the possibility of sanctioning funds to fund the CCTV project, has not seen the light of the day.
South Goa MP claims he spent own funds on seeing sorry plight of beautified work
MARGAO: Just imagine a situation when a Member of Parliament decided to spend from his pocket to take up maintenance of ornamental lamps and clean up a paved pedestrian pathway executed under the MPLAD scheme.
Well, South Goa MP Francisco Sardinha said he feels bad when he comes across the sorry state of some of the projects implemented under the MPLAD scheme in the district. He, however, hastened to add that the centrally-funded MPLAD scheme has no provision to take up the maintenance of the projects executed under the scheme.
“The scheme entails that the projects are sanctioned based on requests received from the local bodies such as the panchayats and municipalities, besides trusts and societies. And, when the projects are sanctioned and executed, the same are handed over to the local bodies for upkeep and maintenance,” Sardinha said.
He, however, hastened to point out that he has come across projects, including ambulances and hearse vans besides beautification projects, crying for attention from the local bodies. “When I question the representatives of the local bodies over the sorry state of affairs, they claim they have no funds for the maintenance. Recently, when I came across the sorry plight of a beautified work executed under the MPLAD scheme, I spend my own funds to clean up the area,” he said.
To tide over the situation, the MP said he has come out with a novel idea to get 2-3 village panchayats together whenever a request has come for an ambulance or hearse van so that they jointly look after the maintenance.
Reminding that he had sanctioned the CCTV projects for Margao and Vasco worth lakhs of rupees, Sardinha lamented that the cameras are lying defunct for want of maintenance by the local civic bodies.
