SURAJ NANDREKAR
Twenty days ago on May 9, which happened to be the birthday of Tourism Mister Dilip Parulekar, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar could not find time to land in Goa for the ‘soft launch’ of Panjim’s multi-level parking.
But on Monday, the Defence Minister inaugurated the Solid Waste Management Plant in Saligao and was very much in Goa but nobody spoke a word on the inauguration of the multi-level pay parking. In fact, Parrikar is very much in Goa, as he is most of the time, but the authorities don’t seem to be interested in commencing operations at the multi-level parking project.
While Goa Tourism Development Corporation chairman Nilesh Cabral’s phone was out of coverage all of Monday afternoon and no other officer was ready to comment on the matter, the GTDC PR agency merely said the officials have no clue when the project would be inaugurated.
Parrikar’s absence last time also delayed the inauguration of the Baga tourism destination development project, scheduled on the same day, as part of the project inauguration storm that was supposed to hit Goa’s shores on the Tourism Minister’s birthday. Officials defend this by saying that the Defence Minister is busy with work.
Meanwhile, sources in the department said that even 20 days after the inauguration was postponed there has been no decision taken on other modalities like ticketing and the fare system.
On ground zero, the building is standing tall with a few workers seen giving final touches to the building’s exteriors and interiors, cleaning the dust, etc. However, installing passenger lifts and the toilet facility, besides other basic requirements, are yet to be completed.
The bidder for issuing tickets has also not been finalized with officials justifying that the tender has already been issued and the selection process is underway. With the inauguration not yet held, the department has remained tight-lipped on whether vehicles can be parked at the facility.
At the same time GTDC is nowhere near commencing the much-awaited and critical feeder service – the hop on hop of buses – that were supposed to function as a link service to the city from the parking facility.
The parking facility at the Panjim jetty is missing deadline after deadline. The facility near Santa Monica jetty was supposed to have been completed by March-April 2015 but work was halted due to non-payment of dues to the contractor.
