Team Herald
QUEPEM: Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant on Thursday took stock of damages Quepem Taluka and some parts of Cancona and Salcete faced due to Cyclone Tauktae.
During a review meeting, the Chief Minister, Deputy Chief Minister Chandrakant Babu Kavlekar, Deputy Collector, councillors, BDO, PWD officials and panch members, discussed the damages caused to the houses, electricity poles due to uprooting of trees thereby causing heavy losses to the Quepem Constituency as well as surrounding areas of Quepem Taluka.
The Chief Minister enquired with Quepem Deputy Collector Nilesh Dhaigodkar about the number of emergency calls received and how effectively they responded with disaster management, as cyclone had a far deep effect in the interiors of Quepem Constituency, namely Barcem, Balli villages, where many trees got uprooted, electricity poles flattened and houses damaged. It also affected the power and water supply to a great extent.
South Executive Engineer Electricity Division, Margao Rajendra Sawant said, “80 electricity poles were damaged but have already cleared the areas and it would take two more days to restore electricity at Barcem area.”
Assistant Engineer Vasuraj Sarmalkar, Water Supply Department, said that due to power failure water supply has also affected as pumps run on electric current.
“Water supply will resume soon after the Electricity Department finish their repair work,” he said.
The Chief Minister said, “We always criticised the Electricity and Water Supply Departments but this type of natural disaster is not easy to handle. They have done absolutely great job and we should appreciate them on their commitment.”
“Under Natural Disaster Management we have already sanctioned financial assistance to three persons of Rs four lakh each, who have faced losses in cyclonic disaster,” added Sawant.
The Chief Minister appealed to the councillors and panch members to pay visit to the people of their wards and convince them about the situation and help the State become COVID free.
He asked them to contribute their time to give a wakeup call to every citizen to take vaccine which will help to fight the pandemic.
“No one has died, who have taken two doses of COVID vaccine so we want to put in people’s mind that COVID vaccination will save life of every individual,” said Sawant. He said they should make Quepem and Sanguem 100 per cent COVID positive free.
The Deputy Chief Minister said, “The Chief Minister has already informed that around Rs 36 crore has been sanctioned under the Natural Disaster Management for the State to repair damages and has enforced that the sanctioned money should be utilised.”
He revealed that the Chief Minister took stock of the condition of Quepem Health Centre, health of COVID positive patients, recovery rate, how many in home isolation and also about the vaccination drive and how effective it is in Quepem Constituency.
“The CM also took note of the functionality of health centres in Borimol, Balli and COVID Care Centre at Quepem Government College, oxygen cylinders and the facilities made available to COVID positive patients,” said Kavlekar.
