CM holds darbar atop Moti Dongor

MARGAO, JAN 18  
There’s good news in store for migrant inhabited Moti Dongor — the stronghold of Chief Minister, Digambar Kamat.
If ordinary Goans are made to make umpteen trips to the offices of Mamlatdar and other departments for redressal of grievances, government officials would make their presence felt atop the hillock to resolve the problems faced by the migrants – courtesy the Chief Minister.
That the district administration headed by Collector G P Naik would now go to the door steps of the inhabitants atop the hillock became apparent on Tuesday morning when the Chief Minister along with Naik and other officials made their presence felt at Moti Dongor.
The Chief Minister’s darbar with the migrants is the first official visit by the Chief Minister to the area since violence erupted on the hillock 21 days ago between the Bashir and Maqbool groups. The visit to the area also comes against the backdrop of the surrender and arrest of accused Bashir Shaikh and three others in the Moti Dongor attack.
If District Collector G P Naik is to be believed, Tuesday’s interaction with the migrants was to understand their grievances and work out solutions. The problems were related to ration cards, water supply, correction of names on the electoral list et al.
Naik said one of the problems faced by the families inhabiting the hillock was the expansion of the families and the need to bifurcate the ration cards as per the individual families. “Besides, correction of names on the voters list is another problem facing the inhabitants. We have listed their grievances”, the Collector said, adding that representatives of various agencies would visit the hillock to solve the grievances of the residents.
“The district administration will go to the doorsteps of these people since they cannot get their work done in the respective departments. There is nothing wrong in this”, Naik said.
It is not known whether allocation of house numbers to the illegal houses atop the hillock is part of the kind gesture to the residents. Incidentally, Chief Minister had strongly favoured allotting house numbers to the illegal houses in the jurisdiction of the Margao Municipal Council to mop up revenue on the house tax front. A sizeable number of illegal houses assessed by the civic body fall in the Moti Dongor area, sources informed.