Shortage of hands leaves CMC and CHC in distress

The Canacona Municipal Council (CMC) is like a deserted land. There is no deputy collector, no BDO, no Chief Officer and the engineers have turned out to be like visiting doctors. They are not available through working days in their offices because they have been given additional charge of Canacona.  

The BDO of Canacona, P K Naik has been given additional charge but the biggest hurdle he faces is that he is handicapped and at the prime stage of retirement. He has to travel all the way from Ponda to Canacona by local bus as he has not been allotted a government vehicle for the commute. Additionally, he has to rely on help from good Samaritans in the area to help him climb a flight of steps to his first floor office.

After the sudden transfer of Chandrakant Shetkar, SDM (sub-divisional magistrate) who held additional charge as the Chief Officer of Canacona Municipal Council, the incumbent Pundalik Khorjuekar rarely visits Canacona. As a result, a number of files that need to be cleared are pending at the CMC office.

In this messy situation in Canacona, there is an acute shortage of manpower in the police department and other departments as well, which include the Community Health Centre (CHC). According to Diego D’Sa who is a visiting committee member of the CHC, there are many facilities that are missing. There is also a major lack of doctors and other technicians. He explained that urgent steps need to be taken in order to streamline everything and bring things in control.

When contacted, Health Officer of Canacona CHC, Dr Vikas Kuvelkar said, “Plenty of medicines have been procured and have been brought to the health centre here in Canacona. After I took charge, most of the vacancies for the empty doctor seats were also filled. Additionally, equipment has been purchased and has been fit and everything is in proper working condition.”

Dr Kuvelkar went on to state that he is constantly pursuing the matter with the concerned authorities so that he can hire lab technicians to work around the clock. At present, they work only during the day for a stipulated time frame as per the labour act and that he has no power to ask them to work for a longer duration of time.