Santa Cruz locals along with members of NGO Hope Foundation addressing the reporters outside the Santa Cruz police outpost on Wednesday. Captured by : Manuel Vaz
OLD GOA
Unhappy over the shifting of the Panaji Traffic Cell in the Santa Cruz police outpost, angry locals and NGO Hope Foundation have claimed the money spent on building the premises appears to have gone down the drain as it has not served the purpose of maintaining law and order.
Speaking to reporters, the NGOs member Domnic Pereira said the police outpost was inaugurated amid much fanfare last year.
“We were under the impression that it would help in maintaining law and order. However, we can’t even register a simple complaint here and are told to go to Old Goa police station for the same.”
“And to add salt to injury, the Panaji Traffic Cell has been shifted on the first floor of the outpost, thereby defeating the very purpose of the outpost which was set up with an aim of maintaining law and order,” Pereira opined.
Pereira recalled that the then DGP had written to the government in 2020 to set up a full-fledged police station at St Cruz as the space was adequate.
“Also, he had pointed out that the Old Goa PS was covering a vast area catering to around 1.15 lakh population. He had also pointed out that most of the history sheeters registered with Old Goa PS hailed from Santa Cruz, Merces and Chimbel, due to which dedicating a separate police station for these three villages would help the police in reigning such criminals,” Pereira informed.
“However, instead of considering the proposal, the government rejected it outright,” Pereira added and informed that his NGO wrote to the government to convert the outpost into a full-fledged police station.
“After our letter, the Old Goa PI has now submitted a fresh proposal to the DGP outlining the need for a full-fledged police station at Santa Cruz which would cater to Merces and Chimbel as well. We are hopeful that the government will consider this proposal and upgrade the outpost to a full-fledged police station,” Pereira hoped.
A senior citizen Ganesh Chodankar also opined the need of having a full-fledged police station in Santa Cruz to control the rising crime in the village and its vicinity.
