A collection of woes is leaking out from S Goa Collectorate

MARGAO With sewage overflowing on to walkways, water leaking onto the ground floor foyer areas, toilets in shambles, the District Collectorate South Goa is presently in a very bad state crying out for maintenance. A couple of years ago, the Public Works Department (PWD) had taken over the maintenance of the Collectorate and now the palatial building lies in shambles. 

 Tendered at a cost of Rs 57 crores, by the time the building was commissioned, the cost had escalated to Rs 140 crores. Started during the tenure of former Chief Minister Digambar Kamat between 2007 and 2012; the Collectorate was commissioned in 2013 by the next Chief Minister (late) Manohar Parrikar. Parrikar had stated that the building could be a tourist attraction if a proper mechanism and system was put in place. 

Forget it being a tourist attraction though. The Collectorate, which was named after Matanhy Saldanha, is today crying for maintenance. Door handles have broken, replaced by latches; flooring of the toilets on the ground floor looks like the building suffered an earthquake; taps, automated water dispensation system in the urinals are out of order; amongst several other problems.

The false ceiling of the foyer areas on the ground floor is leaking. There is absolutely no record of the PWD having done an audit of the condition of the Collectorate after taking over the maintenance from GSIDC 2 years ago.

Employees in the Collectorate told Herald, “We are using the toilets of our senior officers inside their offices as the toilets meant for employees are in a bad shape”. 

A citizen writing about the plight of the toilets with photos on the Monday edition of Citizen Herald cements the fact. One of the Deputy Collectors on the condition of anonymity even after listing out all the problems of the Collectorate, insisted that everything is fine. When asked regarding the state of the toilets Dy Collector said “It is under PWD”.

The Deputy Director of the Social Welfare when he was spoken to regarding the state of the Social Welfare office had said “Look at the state of the Collectorate. There is no one to maintain the Collectorate” he said. “Pay a visit to some of offices in the collectorate and see the sorry state of affairs,” he added.  

The District Collector Ajit Roy did not respond calls or messages over several days. However the Additional Collector Surendra Naik informed that the proposal for the repairs of the toilets has been sent to the PWD six months ago and that the Minister for Revenue Jenifer Monseratte has been pursuing the same with the Department. 

 The height of ignoring problems is outside the canteen. If we chose to ignore the stray dogs roaming around the ground floor and the dog poop all over, the overflowing sewage on to the walkway cannot be ignored. This sewage overflow has been there for at least 3 years. 

The former CM and present Leader of Opposition, Digambar Kamat said, “There is a need to make financial provision for the works as the building is huge. It needs finance to maintain and I doubt that has been made.”