The Cuncolim Municipal Council has kicked off pre-monsoon work in the constituency but locals claim that the speed of work is moving on at a snail’s pace. It appears that the council is only keeping itself busy by attacking rival groups or taking on CMC officers while ignoring the pressing needs of the locals.
Locals have complained that it’s a herculean task for the council to clean the nullahs on the highway, near the petrol pump, at the community hall, parking square and the market. All these nullahs required to be cleaned since they’re filled with dirt and garbage. The work to do this has not been completed yet, raising concerns about water logged roads and flooding of the market area when the monsoons begin. The situation is so bad that the use of heavy machinery is required to clean the drains. Locals say that the cleaning of the highway should be given top priority. The Public Works Department (PWD) has failed to clean the drains for the last ten years and to make matters worse, hotels and restaurants are allowing their waste water into these drains. “The CMC hasn’t cleaned some of these drains for the past few years. Some drains are filled with mud by locals for their personal benefit. A survey of wards needs to be done and report needs to be made about how many drains have been demolished by locals. Monsoon work needs to be carried out as soon as possible so that there’s no issue once the rains start,” some residents said.
Responding to these concerns, CMC chairperson Lavita Mascarenhas stated the she took an initiative but due to the lack of cooperation from administrative staff and unavailability of workers, work has been severely
hampered.
Mascarenhas added that the work of drain cleaning has begun from the market area and that she is personally supervising the work. “The council has started pre-monsoon work in all twelve wards with available workers. I am confident that they will be able to finish the major work by the end of May,” she said.
Some of the councilors have still complained that in their wards, work is yet to start. Council officers told Herald that the government is providing funds to appoint temporary workers for the work. Unfortunately, due to low wages, workers hesitate to take these cleaning jobs. Some councilors are taking a personal interest in getting their wards cleaned up. Meanwhile, residents of Gulleacotto are demanding that drains in Cuncolim Industrial Estate be cleaned up. There are about 25,000 tonnes of chemical waste that has been stored over the past several years.
