PANAJI
Dozens of residents gathered on Sunday at the government edifice built for a hospital at Tuem in Pernem where the Tuem Hospital Action Committee had called for a public meeting to demand the operationalisation of the hospital by linking it to the Goa Medical College and Hospital at Bambolim.
Apart from demanding that the hospital be started before January 26 next year, the agitators are also canvassing for jobs at the hospital to locals.
They have warned that they will intensify their public protests and agitation if their demands are not paid heed to by the State government.
The meeting organized in the precincts of the Tuem hospital building was attended by local elected representatives and politicians including Advocate Amit Sawant, Devendra Prabhudesai of the Congress, Advocate Prasad Shahapurkar of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Deepak Kalangutkar of Goa Forward Party, another local panch Bala alias Prashant Naik, Tulshidas Raut of the Tuem Hospital Action Committee, Sanjay Raut, Jose Lobo among others.
Key issues raised at the meeting were the failure of the government to hand over the building to the health department. The hospital project was initiated by former chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar during his tenure.
A demand was also raised at the meeting that Chief Minister Pramod Sawant who is also chairman of the Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation (GSIDC) which built the hospital building, should give an assurance in the upcoming assembly session as to when the hospital will commence operations.
