the goan I network
MARGAO
One hundred and forty-six. That’s the number of jobs up for grabs in the South Goa district Hospital, awaiting commissioning by the new year.
The moot question, however, remains unanswered “ whether any of the farmers, land losers or their dependents have even a remote chance of getting even a single job in the district hospital in lieu of the land acquired for the prestigious hospital project.
This question has come to the fore in Fatorda as hundreds lost the land of their ancestors when their tenanted fields in and around the old market area were acquired by the government to make way for public utility projects, including the KTC bus stand, mega SGPDA market, district Collectorate, Sports complex et al.
In the absence of any rehabilitation or job policy, the land losers, mostly tenants of local communidade bodies, must have received paltry compensation in lieu of the acquisition of the agricultural land.
Against this backdrop, farmers and tenants had cried foul when the government set their eyes on the paddy fields at Ambaji for the proposed South Goa district hospital, demanding that the government make provision for jobs for their dependents in lieu of their land.
With the long-delayed South Goa district hospital finally ready for commissioning in the New year, the question doing the rounds in local circles is whether the land losers or their dependents will be rehabilitated with jobs in the hospital project.
When the Goa Forward party was a key partner in the BJP led government, party chief Vijai Sardesai had made a specific demand, staking claim for the jobs generated in the district hospital.
With Sardesai out of power and in the opposition, questions are being raised in Fatorda whether the farmers will get any of the jobs at stake.
The Fatorda MLA in the past had vowed to get a quota of the jobs for the land losers or their dependents and had in fact taken up the matter with Health Minister Vishwajit Rane.
Incidentally, when the media recently sought to know from the Goa Assembly Public Undertaking Committee (PUC) whether any of the land losers or their dependents will be accommodated in the district hospital, panel head MLA Digmabar Kamat had feigned ignorance of any such proposal pending with the committee.
What Kamat had told the media was that the PUC would check with the government whether any such assurance was given to the land losers.
The recruitment proposal for the 146 vacancies, relating to various categories of jobs, is presently pending with the government, with the Director of Health Services forwarding the proposal to the Public Health department.
The proposal is likely to get the much-needed nod from the government in the near future for the simple reason that the civil works on the long-delayed Rs 200 crore project is likely to be completed in all respects by November-end and that the commissioning of the hospital will then depend on the recruitment of the staff, including doctors and para-medical personnel in the hospital.
