Governor P S Sreedharan Pillai returned to Salcete on Thursday on his second leg of his tour to the villages, as cries to save Dabolim airport from closure, protection from coal pollution and environment, besides devolution of powers to the local panchayat bodies rent the air in the constituencies of Curtorim and Cuncolim.
Infrastructure needs of the villages also came to the fore as the Sarpanchas and deputy Sarpanchas handed over memorandums to the governor in support of their requirements.
With reports doing the rounds that Dabolim aiport will be shut down after the commissioning of the Mopa international airport, Camurlim Sarpanch Basil Fernandes made a fervent plea to the governor to ensure that Dabolim is not closed for public after the new Mopa airport gets operational. He said the government should not say the airline operators are not willing to operate from Dabolim airport and justify closure of the airport.
He also raised the issue of coal pollution, drawing attention of the governor that coal pollution and transportation is increasing day by day. The Sarpanch called for control on the coal pollution to ensure it does not increase and risk the lives of the people, fearing that failure to control coal will make beautiful and golden Goa into a black Goa.
The Camurlim Sarpanch along with his Rachol counterpart Joseph Vaz also raised the contentious issue of powers and functions to the Panchayat bodies under the 73rd Constitutional Amendment. The duo strongly rooted for the devolution of the powers and functions to the Panchayat bodies envisaged under the Goa Panchayat Raj Act.
The Rachol Panchayat pointed out how the tribal population is facing difficulties to carry out repairs and reconstruction of their existing houses for want of NOCs from the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) after half of Ilha de Rachol village was brought under Coastal Zone Management Authority.
In the memorandum submitted to the governor, the Guirdolim panchayat pointed out that the local body follows the 'Nitoll ghanv, Niyojit ghanv' model and made a plea to the governor to help the Panchayat protect the environment and save the beautiful village for the future generation.
On the other hand, Raia Panchayat submitted to the governor a list of infrastructure projects such as the upgradation of the Primary Health Centre, improvement of infrastructure facilities for the existing Raia Church football ground and the Manora football ground; assistance in procuring educational apparatus and instruments and overall upgradation of the infrastructure facilities for the Higher Secondary Schools in the village of Raia and assistance to the farming community for acquiring agricultural equipments and machinery such as harvesters, tractors, weeding machines, planters, etc. by availing government subsidies.
Curtorim village Panchayat, on the other hand, has called for the upgradation and renovation of Curtorim Primary Health Centre to enable better medical attendance treatment to patients. The panchayat has called for deputation of consultants and specialists, including eye specialist, ENT specialist, dentist, skin specialist, besides hospitalization facilities, blood testing and X-Ray facilities.
The Curtorim PHC caters to around 80,000 population, spread over the villages of Curtorim, Macazana, Guirdolim, Chandor, Cavorim, Sao Jose De Areal, Rumdamol and Darvorlim.
Chandor Panchayat made a strong case for the de-notification of the State Highway passing through the village. The panchayat has also drawn attention of the governor to the plying of heavy vehicular traffic despite a notification to the contrary. The panchayat has asked the governor for his help in preventing the government from making the Chandor railway station a coal hub in the future.
