the goan I network
CORTALIM
Santana, who was living without the essential services of electricity and water connections for several years in a small one-room mud house at 1st Arvale, Cortalim, wouldn’t have dreamt that good as well as bad times were destined for her in a span of a month.
On April 18, this year, Santana, a widow and mother of two children, lost her daughter Sharon Joyce (18) in a fatal car accident. Joyce was hit while standing by the roadside with a water pot which she had gone to draw across the road from a neighbour’s well. People who came to condole Santana were shocked to find her house lacked the basic facilities of water
and electricity.
Santana was denied electricity connection despite making several applications to the panchayat over the years. “I approached the Cortalim-Quelossim panchayat for many years, but the local body had been asking for documents which were not in my name,” Santana told The Goan. Santana said only after people realized her fate that they began making inquiries. She had a word of appreciation to Mariano Dias, a social worker from Cortalim, who immediately took up her matter with various authorities, including the health officer Dr Socorro Quadros. Santana said while Dr Quadros immediately initiated process under the Health Act to provide NOC for electricity and water connections, local MLA Saldanha who visited her residence twice provided all the material required for the
basic amenities.
“This day should have come at least a few months earlier, so that her daughter, who had to move out of the house to fetch water, may have been alive. But, sadly, it did not happen,” said Saldanha, while also thanking Dr Quadros for providing all the help to the woman.
Meanwhile, President of the Union of Senior Citizens and Associates, Cortalim, Paulo Souza, has expressed gratitude to Alina Saldanha in coming to the aid of Santana.
