VALPOI
Incomplete grounds, unemployment and lack of street lights are among the key issues confronting candidates at the Valpoi Municipal Council (VMC) elections on March 20.
Nine of the 10 wards will go to polls after Nirmala Sakhalkar was elected unopposed in Ward 8.
At present, all candidates have intensified door-to-door campaigns in a bid to personally meet and connect with the voters.
Many residents have been raising the issue of the incomplete municipal ground in Valpoi Town. The VMC has undertaken the beautification of the ground at a cost of about Rs 1 crore, from the Golden Jubilee funds allotted by the State government.
The VMC had levelled the ground and had erected a fence around it. However, residents complain that the ground is still incomplete and has no facilities.
Players and residents have complained that there has been little attention to develop the ground.
Work of providing a good pitch was part of the second phase of the ground, but work has not started as yet and with monsoons barely two months away, people are concerned that this ground will be forgotten and the money wasted.
Many residents have been confronting candidates about the status of this incomplete municipal ground.
Unemployment has been a major concern among residents in Valpoi town. Many voters believe that there has been injustice in providing employment to youth in the last 10 years.
Residents have also complained that only some people have benefited from jobs in the VMC, while others have been ignored. They have been questioning candidates, who meet them during door-to-door campaigns, cautioning that this issue would also feature in the forthcoming assembly elections.
Residents have also highlighted the problem of insufficient street lights and have told candidates that many areas in Valpoi town do not have street lights, raising concerns of safety and security of residents after dusk.
Residents claimed to have brought this to the attention of councillors in the past but nothing had been done to install street lights all over the town.
