PANJIM: The quarters for senior bureaucrats and journalists are neglected and crying for attention for several years as wards 21 and 22 boast of government bungalows and flats for ministers, gazetted officers and journalists besides housing some important offices.
The flats, rented to the selected allottees, face various maintenance problems with repeated complaints of falling slabs, cracks in the walls, water crisis and poor cleanliness in and around the buildings. There have also been complaints from a majority of those living on the ground floor that snakes often enter their flats, posing a danger especially during the monsoon.
“The bushes are never cleared despite complaints to PWD. In the rains, these grow and increase in height. At this time, PWD employees give us silly reasons about why they cannot trim the overgrown bushes and shrubs,” a senior gazetted officer, seeking anonymity, said.
There have been incidents when families occupying the ground floor have shifted to the top floors to save themselves from possible snakebites.
The wards, represented by Gangaram Kale and Maya Talkar respectively, can only flaunt of carpeting of potholed roads, which incidentally was done a little before the dates for the CCP elections were announced.
The posh Altinho area also suffers from a water crisis owing to the altitude. Those living in flats are the worst sufferers even as water supply is limited to certain hours twice a day.
There are others who complain of the weak structure of the building with repairs being of no use. A women officer, attached to a government-run higher secondary school alleged that the walls leak during the monsoons posing a risk. “The repeated leakage weakens the walls and the repairs are just for namesake. The roofs, walls, windows, and so many portions of every alternate flat are at risk of collapse. The authorities are aware but little is done,” she stated.
Similarly, some of the government offices are also in bad shape. The lone joggers park at Altinho, that draws a number of people, also lacks proper maintenance.
Each of wards has four candidates contesting the ensuing polls. The only change in the existing set of candidates is that the Atanasio Monserrate-backed panel refused to give Kale a ticket this election.
