Team Herald
PORVORIM: Porvorim Constituency first went to polls after delimitation from the Aldona Constituency in the year 2012. It comprises of the Village Panchayats of Socorro, Penha da Franca and Salvador-do-Mundo. The constituency consists of the urban Porvorim plateau which has numerous government, commercial and residential buildings including the housing board colonies. There are several private apartments, residential complexes and bungalows in this constituency.
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The Goa government staff and police quarters are spread on the plateau which also has the Assembly Complex, High Court and Secretariat. In fact, the seat of the government is located in the Porvorim Constituency. Hence, the residents and the voters of this constituency are demanding that Porvorim should be declared as the capital of Goa.
“As it is the seat of government having all three pillars of democracy namely Legislature, Executive, Judiciary. The Secretariat (Mantralaya), Assembly Complex (Vidhan Sabha) and High Court are all located in Porvorim, then why cannot be Porvorim the capital of Goa?” asked Juino De Souza, ex-State Information Commissioner and founder member of Porvorim Residents Welfare Association.
In 2012, the voter strength was 21,209 which increased to 24,346 in 2017 and this year presently there are 26,752 voters.
The major issue which ails the constituency is that it has no proper health centre. The entire constituency has just one Primary Health Centre (PHC) that too located in two flats of a government building with one health officer and one medical officer in the plateau.
While demanding for capital status for Porvorim, Souza said that, “There are long queues standing for an RT-PCR test. With no parking facility available, patients park their scooters and cars on the road resulting in traffic jams. There is need for the PHC to be upgraded into Community Health Centre (CHC). Also the sub-centre at Socorro and Salvador-do-Mundo should be upgraded into PHCs.”
Social worker from Alto Porvorim Leticia Menezes raised the issue of traffic.
“The highway road crossing becomes difficult. The traffic lights often are not timed properly for the common pedestrians, especially for the senior citizens to cross the road. Also, because of improper timings the accidents at the road interjection on the highway is very frequent,” said Leticia.
Roque Dias, a prominent senior citizen and social worker residing at Oval Park said that, “There is need for a separate Porvorim Municipal Council to provide civic amenities in the urban Porvorim plateau.”
The increasing stray dog menace on the plateau is another major issue. All along the BB Borkar Road and surrounding areas of the plateau have several stray dogs. One of the voter of Porvorim said that several cases of dog bites, motorcycle accidents due to dogs chasing vehicles, and incessant barking at the night time is disturbing the peace of the residents residing on the plateau.
Also, the gardens, parks on the plateau are not well maintained. “With overgrown shrubs and weeds, the residents are afraid to use the parks and gardens for fear of snakes which are seen frequently. Also, the toilet facility in Nana-Nani Park and other gardens are kept locked much to the discomfort of the citizens,” said a voter.
Voters also complained that the underground sewerage system not operational for the last years have elapsed. The septic tanks of residential buildings are overflowing and mosquito menace has increased resulting in spread of malaria and dengue.
