TEAM HERALD
MARGAO: Elections to the Goa Legislative Assembly may still be two-and-a-half years away, but Fisheries Minister Avertano Furtado has started his door-to-door campaign in his Navelim constituency.
Kick-starting the exercise from his home ward Sinquetim, Avertano has been moving in the area with his office staff, jotting down the grievances of the residents relating to administration pertaining to the electricity, roads, water supply, revenue matters et al. The fisheries minister, however, insisted that his door-to-door programme has nothing to do with the Assembly poll due in two-and-a-half years from now or with politics, but simply an exercise to seek feedback from his voters to the functioning of the government and to know their grievances.
“My exercise has nothing to do with politics but simply to show my love and concern for my people who had elected me to the Assembly in 2012. It has nothing to do with politics or the future Assembly poll,” he told the media.
He has set a self imposed deadline of 5-6 months to complete the entire constituency. “During my visits, people have put forth a host of grievances before me. The exercise will help me to devise ways and means to address these,” Avertano told the media.
This is perhaps the first such exercise undertaken by a minister or MLA mid-way through the Assembly term. Avertano had contested the 2012 Assembly poll as an Independent and had turned a giant killer by defeating former PWD minister, Churchill Alemao.
