Team Herald
PANJIM: The valedictory function of Goa Grama Sampurna Yatra undertaken by Governor P S Sreedharan Pillai will be held on Saturday, November 26, at the Durbar Hall of Raj Bhavan, Dona Paula, at 11.30 am, on the occasion of Constitution Day.
On the occasion, Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, Union Minister of State Shripad Naik, Speaker Ramesh Tawadkar and Leader of Opposition Yuri Alemao will be present.
Speaking to reporters, R Mihir Vardhan, Secretary to Governor on Friday said that from September 17, this year, Governor Sreedharan Pillai started his tour to several places across the State accompanied by local MLAs as per the constituencies along with the District Collector and officials from the Revenue and Panchayat administration. The tour was later christened as ‘Goa Grama Sampurna Yatra’.
The yatra concluded on November 18, in Sanquelim Constituency represented by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and in the course of 15 months, the Governor traversed thousands of kilometers and travelled 421 villages and 191 village panchayats in 12 Talukas of both the districts. The Governor travelled nearly 300-km per day, Vardhan said.
Vardhan said that the Governor visited 91 NGOs and distributed financial aid from discretionary funds personally at the doorsteps of these institutions.
He also distributed financial aid to as many as 1,005 dialysis/cancer/other patients and handed over cheques to these beneficiaries in their respective villages. A total of Rs 2.75 crore was disbursed to the institutions and patients.
According to Vardhan, the core of the yatra involved meetings with the elected representatives of the local bodies such as Zilla Panchayat members, sarpanchas, and other panchayat members at selected places. More than 1, 500 village leaders interacted with the Governor during the yatra.
To a question, Vardhan said that during the yatra, the Governor found that most of the remote villages had water, electricity and internet connectivity problems. This was the common chorus in many village panchayats of remote talukas of Sanguem, Canacona and Pernem.
“We have categorised these problems and will take them before the government departments,” he said.
