NAVIN JHA
Navin@herald-goa.com
VASCO: The government health centre as well as the police outpost behind the Ravindra Bhavan, Baina may be shut down to pave way for the ambitious parking project for the Ravindra Bhavan.
The issue came to light on Friday, when RB member secretary Sabaji Shetye inspected the clinic, which was under repairs and instructed the contractor to stop the work.
Herald investigations revealed that the Art and Culture Department had recently started the process of drawing plans for using over 1,000 sq mts of land behind the Bhavan. The aim is to create more parking facilities for the Bhavan.
What’s surprising is that the Health Department has been running a govt clinic in a structure constructed on 136 sq mts of land years ago. Vasco Police have been running a full-fledged police outpost only to cater to Baina locals.
As the demand for both utilities was high, the authorities had renovated/repaired the police outpost, while the health centre was 50% complete.
Dr Rashmi Khandeparkar, health officer of the Vasco UHC, was shocked to hear that the work was stopped. She stated, “We were surprised to hear that Shetye directed the contractor to stop the upgrading work. Although official communication is yet to be received, I was orally informed that the RB officials have some parking plans for the land presently occupied by us. Now there is uncertainty of where to shift the clinic. It is major setback.”
Meanwhile, Baina locals have threatened to agitate if the clinic and police outpost is shut down.
“We have strong objections to this move as firstly, hundreds of people are using the facilities. We were happy that government was carrying out repairs to provide good healthcare facilities to the people, but it was shocking to know that even after spending money on repairs, another department of the same government wants to demolish the structure. We request the government to scrap its proposal and allow the health centre and police outpost to function, failing which we will be compelled to come onto the streets.”
