Flooded in the rains, flood of work later
BY SHWETA KAMAT
MAHALAKSHMI TEMPLE: This is the other side of Panjim, tourists come to. The Panjim of temples and a spring. The Panjim of hills and hill slopes, caressing Altinho and winding down the slope in from of the Mahalakshmi temple.
In the larger scheme of things, there are just 900 voters who will elect a corporator from this ward 24, most of whom appear completely content. But that is because the monsoons are over. The happiness quotient of this ward fluctuates with the monsoons. That is the time when the rain waters pour down from the Mahalakshmi temple down the slopes and enters and floods homes.
“The water and the mud from the slopes all come down making it very difficult for us. Our homes get affected. If a retaining wall behind the Mahalakshmi temple is rebuilt, the problem gets solved”.
This is where politics comes in. Diksha Mayenkar, the sitting corporator complains that a proposal to build a retaining wall has been lying with the Corporation of the City of Panjim (CCP) for the past two years.
But the ward has other patrons. Panjim MLA Manohar Parrikar has apparently spent about Rs 1 crore from funds allocated to him while the corporation has spent Rs 18 lakh.
A clear stronghold of the BJP, this ward will see a straight contest between the sitting corporator Mayenkar and Manda Shetye. Shetye the challenger will be the candidate of Education Minister Babush Monserrate.
Politics will easily be the order of the day.
While there will be issues to be sorted out in the temples and other tourist places which dot the area, not many are talking about them.
The wall behind the Mahalakshmi temple can wait.
