PANAJI
The government may have appointed a young and raring to go chairperson of the Goa State Commission for Women (GSCW) in the form of Purti Patkar at the beginning of this month, but how accessible is she?
When “The Goan” contacted the office of the GSCW on Friday, staff at the office refused to give the new chairperson’s phone number stating that it was her “private” number.
When asked if the chairperson would be unavailable to women in distress on account of her own privacy, the staff said that the permission of the chairperson would be required before handing out her number to anyone.
The staff further said that Patkar would be unavailable for an unspecified amount of time as she was out of state.
The Goan then made inquiries with noted women working in the field of women’s rights and asked them about the current chairperson, as well as their experiences with chairpersons of the women’s commission in the past.
Most of them, while they had heard that Patkar had been appointed as chairperson, had not heard of any notable work that she had done in the field of women’s rights. They added that they had not yet tried contacting her for anything, so couldn’t comment on her accessibility.
However, they expressed that previous chairpersons had been accessible to them at all times.
Women’s rights activist Adv Albertina Almeida told The Goan that the number of the chairperson had always been “out there.”
She did add, however, that previous chairpersons had been of her profession and thus they were available to her at all times, although she could not speak for others, she said.
Former chairperson Adv Shubhalaxmi Naik said that not only was she available on her cellphone 24x7, (a claim The Goan has been witness to), she was available for women in distress at her private office in Velho building.
Dr Pramod Salgaonkar who was chairperson for three terms till 2009, said that it was the duty of the chairperson to be available at all times, as women in distress came first to the chairperson before contacting the police.
“As per the Act, chairpersons are at the service of the public,” she added.
Neena Naik, former member of the GSCW reiterated the same.
The GSCW was dissolved before the completion of its term after the resignation of chairperson Adv Naik.
It was reconstituted with the following members: MLA Alina Saldanha, Dr Pritha Mallya, Ketki Parab Gadekar, Lavanya Shetye, and Shaila D’Souza.
