The soft-spoken Vaidehi Naik, a CCP corporator, had the hardest task at her disposal in last five years. Getting sorted out vexed traffic congestion problem in city’s arteries – 18th June Road and M G Road, is something which she is still struggling to accomplish.
The narrow 18th June Road is mess almost through the day, with cars and bikes parked erratically all along the road. The city fathers had thought that making this road a pay parking slot would fill CCP’s coffers and also regulate the unwanted parking here.
But, the proposal has been lying unattended to in Collector’s office and constant reminders have fetched no results. The locals especially businessmen raise the red flag to pay parking fearing that asking people to pay means they will stop visiting this busy lane. Actually, traffic police had recommended pay parking here. Although CCP conceded to it, now there is no follow-up from the corporation, which has kept the file pending in collectorate.
Ward Number 12, represented by the BJP supported Vaidehi Naik, is actually Panaji’s metropolis. It’s the place where Panjim generates maximum revenue. But when it comes to spending, the CCP have not spent a single pie. The work costing approximately Rs 30 lakh was done from local MLA Manohar Parrikar’s funds.
And if traffic was one problem that Vaidehi could hardly solve, there is another issue that she is battling with. Around 40-odd names of the voters from the ward have been shifted elsewhere. The voters are caught napping and their names shifted to wards 11 and 28. Vaidehi claims that the move was politically motivated and names were shifted keeping her in the dark.
The district collector, who is also a returning officer, has been asked to look into the matter. She says the collector has started the process of rectifying the error. For CCP even few votes can decide the fate of candidates.
Garbage is yet another problem which dogged this ward until recently. But Vaidehi says it is now a thing of the past as the issue is solved. The corporator, however refused to speak about the various works undertaken by her, as she believes that works were not done by CCP but by Manohar Parrikar.
In the previous elections in 2006 Vaidehi Naik defeated Vibha Naik. This time around, the ward is not reserved and she is pitted against Prasad Amonkar.
