PANJIM: After administration in the government had come to a standstill for more than two and a half months due to the model code of conduct, it was business as usual on Monday in the ministerial block of the Secretariat as well as government offices.
The lifting of the code saw administrative functioning and pending works being reviewed as ministers held series of meetings.
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant took stock of the entire administration, Deputy Chief Minister Manohar Ajgaonkar, Power Minister Nilesh Cabral, Revenue Minister Rohan Khaunte and PWD Minister Deepak Pauskar held series of meetings concerning their respective departments.
Minister for Town and Country Planning Vijai Sardesai, Minister for Fisheries Vinod Palyekar and Minister for Housing Jayesh Salgaokar; who are all in Israel, are expected to be back on Tuesday.
Sawant held meetings with all the secretaries’ in-charge and reviewed the administrative works, which had come to grinding halt due to the election code since March. Resumption of iron ore mining activities and ensuring strong financial position of the State, are considered as the top priority for the CM.
DY CM Ajgaonkar chaired the meeting to oversee preparedness for the National Games 2019 to be held in October. The Sports Minister has asked the Sports Department to ensure that all the infrastructure related facilities are in place latest by end of July.
Speaking on this issue to HERALD, Ajgaonkar said “due to the code of conduct, lot of time was wasted. Some work orders also could not be issued.”
With the monsoons expected to begin by mid June, Minister for Revenue Khaunte held a meeting with both the district collectors- R Menaka (North) and Ajit Roy (South) to see preparations of disaster management.
The meeting deliberated on the various preparatory measures to be taken, which includes cleaning of drains, pruning of dangerous tress, flood relief measures, checking the readiness of equipment and communication systems, advance procurement of necessary relief material and coordinated approach for disaster response at the district level.
There will be 24x 7 control rooms’ at all twelve taluka headquarters and at the District headquarters.
Similarly, Power Minister Cabral too reviewed the power scenario. Officials updated the Minister about infrastructure works, measures taken up to ensure there are no frequent power cuts during monsoon, helpline number during monsoon, etc.
Being Minister for Law, he also held a meeting to smoothen the registration process at sub-registrar offices.
