State govt spent Rs 6,000 cr to develop State: Parrikar
Informs that Centre will allot another Rs 6,000 crore
THE GOAN NETWORK
VASCO
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Saturday said the State government has spent Rs 6,000 crore to develop the State despite the mining ban in the last four years, while the Centre has allotted another Rs 6,000 crore which will be utilized for other developmental works.
“The BJP's dream of Golden Goa will be accomplished through these developmental works undertaken by the BJP government during its tenure,” said Parrikar.
Parrikar was addressing a function after unveiling the foundation stone for a number of projects in the port town, consisting of the ultra modern transport hub-cum-administrative building, a ring road behind KTCL bus stand, a retaining wall behind KTCL bus stand, a footpath and drainage work from St Andrew Church junction Vasco to New Vaddem junction, and installation of a booster pump for augmentation of water supply in Vasco constituency.
Others present at the function were Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar, Deputy Chief Minister Francis D'Souza, PWD Minister Sudin Dhavalikar, Forest and Environment Minister Rajendra Arlekar, Power Minister Milind Naik, South Goa MP Narendra Sawaikar, Vasco MLA Carlos Almeida and noted industrialist Nana Bandekar.
Commenting on the water problem faced by residents of Mormugao taluka, Parrikar stated that the capacity of Salaulim water supply has been increased by 100 MLD and as a result, Mormugao taluka will get around 65 MLD extra water to meet its requirements.
Parrikar, however, cautioned the people that water will be a major problem in the future and urged them to use water judiciously.
Responding to a request by Almeida to ask Goa Shipyard Limited to construct a swimming pool in Vasco as part of its CSR project, Parrikar stated he would take up the matter with the GSL CMD Shekar Mittal and was confident that the request would be fulfilled.
Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar said the ultra-modern transport hub at Vasco KTCL would be a state-of-art project with all necessary facilities, and praised Almeida for continuously following it up with the government.
Later speaking to The Goan, Parrikar said that the bus terminus would be completed within a period of 18 months.
To a query on the reasons for the delay in laying the foundation stone for the transport hub at Vasco, Parrikar said, “The government had to cancel the earlier contractor as he did not get a solid footing for the construction of the pillars.”
“Since it is marshy land, the contractor did not get solid rock to lay the foundation and it is not the fault of the contractor. Such things happens, but rarely,” said Parrikar.
“The contract was awarded a year before the last assembly election and for the cancellation of the contract, the government had to pay the contractor his expenses,” Parrikar added.
Others who spoke on the occasion were Francis D’Souza, Milind Naik, Sudin Dhavalikar, Rajendra Arlekar, Narendra Sawaikar and Carlos Almeida.
