MARGAO
Will the government intervene and give relief to beleaguered citizens forced to climb stairs in the Osia commercial complex during their visit to government departments housed in the building for want of an elevator?
Offices of around half-a-dozen government departments, including Town and Country Planning, Excise, Transport, Commercial sales tax and District Registrar, besides the semi-autonomous body South Goa Planning and Development Authority (SGPDA), are all housed in the complex for around two decades now.
After the commissioning of the Matanhy Saldanha Administrative complex, these departments, however, were surprisingly not shifted to the imposing complex housing the South Goa Collectorate for reasons best known to the government.
While the Matanhy Saldanha Administrative building has over half a dozen lifts for visitors, citizens are forced to climb stairs in the Osia complex to reach offices such as the TCP located on the fourth floor.
Reason? The lift has been facing issues of upkeep for a long time now. That’s not all. The issue of contribution towards the maintenance of the ageing lift has come to the fore, with a meeting called by the SGPDA Member Secretary Sheikh Ali evoking a lukewarm response.
The lift is being operated by an operator engaged by the SGPDA, which has its office on the fourth floor. The SGPDA member secretary has now contended that the lift base has almost corroded and may pose a danger to the people availing the facility.
“That’s the reason why the lift is non-functioning most of the time taking into account the safety of the users,” he added.
To a question whether the PDA has any plans to replace the lift, the PDA member secretary said after the meeting with the stakeholders, including the representatives of government departments housed in the building, a proposal is being mooted to seek contributions from the respective departments to replace the lift.
“A new lift may cost around Rs 15 lakh. It has been agreed in principle that the government departments functioning from the Osia complex will contribute the funds. But, this will become a reality only after the sanction from the head offices,” he said.
He added: “Even assuming that the government departments contribute towards the purchase of a new lift, the question will remain over the upkeep. Against this backdrop, I called a meeting of the stakeholders to discuss the issue of purchase of the lift and its maintenance. But, there was no response other than the government departments.”
Incidentally, the SGPDA had mooted a proposal to the TCP head office during the tenure of Chairman Wilfred D’Sa for the replacement of the lift costing Rs 10 lakh. A senior TCP official was believed to have shut down the proposal on the plea that the offices operating in the building should also contribute towards the purchase.
Citizens visiting the government departments in the Osia commercial complex, however, have questioned the government's delay in replacing the lift. They have demanded that the government should either replace the defunct lift or shift all the departments to the Matanhy Saldanha Administrative complex on priority.
Incidentally, former Chief Minister late Manohar Parrikar had sought to work out a solution after his return to power in 2017 through the General Administrative Department (GAD), but in vain.
