He is an island in the erstwhile land of political plenty. Earlier if you drove Cuncolim to Nuvem (loutolim), there was a minister constituency every twenty minutes, even less. Today there’s just Avertano Furtado in Navelim, Goa's Labour and Fisheries minister.
TheLabour Minister Avertano Furtado has his task cut out for Navelim. But besideshis constituency the expectations of entire Salcete is on him, as Furtado isthe only minister from Salcete. In the last assembly five ministers came fromSalcette Taluka including the Chief Minister.
Theformer goalkeeper turned minister has expressed his strong desire to clean upNavelim of its garbage and construction woes.
Althoughpresided by two heavy weights from the South “ Luizinho Faleiro and ChurchillAlemao -- in the past, Navelim constituency managed to skirt the real issuessatisfied with cosmetic changes. The real hard issues of sewage, garbage,illegal construction, mega-projects and the influx of migrants were leftunattended.
“Issuesof garbage and sewage have never been addressed in the constituency, whileconstruction of mega-projects continued on a fast pace. Every lane, every waddoin the constituency has garbage strewn all over the place which needs urgentattention,” said Labour Minister Avertano Furtado.
Theminister has taken personal interest hiring shovels and involving students andNGOs to clear garbage from Davorlim and Rumdamol areas. He is also strivinghard to get a passport facilitation center in South Goa to serve the large NREpopulation of Navelim who work in the Gulf or on cruise and cargo ships.
Furtadois overseeing the Rs 48 crores allocation to his fisheries department, hopingto make maximum use of the funds for building and repairing jetties acrossSouth Goa.
“Inthe previous government six ministers in the government were from Salcete. Now I am the lone representative of Salcetein the cabinet. Besides Navelim, all the remaining constituencies ofSalcete have high expectations from me,” Furtado said.
