MARGAO
Supporters of Quepem MLA Altone D’Costa and former deputy chief minister Chandrakant Kavlekar came face to face right in front of Chief Minister Pramod Sawant during his visit to Betul on Monday.
In fact, the Chief Minister was seen trying to separate Kavlekar’s brother and a supporter of Altone as the public spat between the two sides threatened to snowball into a clash.
The incident occurred near the Betul panchayat Ghar, which was inspected by the Chief Minister after he paid respects to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj on the commemoration of Coronation at the adjoining Betul Fort.
After Quepem MLA Altone raised the issue of the development of Betul, including the construction of the Panchayat Ghar, health centre and a football ground, the Chief Minister had promised to take up the Panchayat Ghar and health centre as a priority.
As the Chief Minister accompanied by MLA Altone, former MLA Kavelkar and his brother were coming out of the Panchayat Ghar after the inspection, both sides were engaged in a verbal duel over the Panchayat Ghar.
While MLA Altone told his predecessor that everyone should now look forward than dig into the past, Kavlekar’s brother retorted by saying the Panchayat Ghar proposal was passed during the Congress-turned-BJP MLA’s tenure, further asserting that they will make the Panchayat Ghar a reality.
As the Chief Minister was heading to his car, he was seen trying to separate Kavlekar’s brother and Altone’s supporter from coming close to each other.
Earlier, at the Shivaji Maharaj Coronation programme, the Chief Minister told the Quepem MLA that the government had almost completed the process to build the Betul Panchayat Ghar and was scheduled to lay the foundation stone before realization dawned that while the Panchayat would cost Rs 80 lakh, retaining wall would cost the exchequer a whopping Rs 86 lakh.
The Chief Minister further claimed that neither the architect nor the consultant was ready to give a guarantee that the retaining wall will be 100 per cent safe.
“The government has now decided to build the Betul Panchayat Ghar at the earliest even by spending Rs 86 lakh on the land which otherwise would have gone into the construction of the retaining wall,” Sawant said, adding that the government would build a spacious building for the Panchayat Ghar.
