As the rest of South Goa deals with the monsoon and the unpreparedness on the part of the government, water seeping into the South Goa comunidade building projects a sorry state of affairs.
Not only do the unkempt toilets reek discouraging anyone who wants to use the room, the sound of rain pattering on the roof and the paint peeling off the damp walls are enough reasons to recommend urgent repairs. Yet, it has been 14 years since the building was last renovated.
All one has to do is climb the 46 steps of the 53-year-old building to wonder why the government has failed to attend to the premises that brings in people from all over the district.
“The floors are slippery because of the water entering through the windows. There is no proper place to keep rain gear and I am afraid the documents I am carrying will get wet. All this would have been solved if the place had better roofing and non-broken windows that will stop water from entering,” said Romanov Borges, while leaving the building on a rainy day.
The administrative office of the South Goa comunidade is responsible to coordinate with the managing committees of 90 comunidades across South Goa. The supervisory body also deals with conducting elections and is an important nerve centre. Stakeholders who have plots also need an approval from the administrator besides the collector while the comunidades have to go through this office to coordinate with the revenue department at the collectorate.
Incidentally, the Revenue department at the collectorate and the District Collector along with PWD has been repeatedly written calling for repair works.
While basic infrastructure is lacking at the office, the existing infrastructure is in tatters and the office staff have to make do with available resources and also resort to make shift arrangements to deal with water seepage, broken windows and the like. The water seepage issue has been taken up with the authorities since 2005 but the efforts have been in vain. In 2011 a proposal to repaint the building due to its condition was made but it did not receive an approval from the government while there were certain objections from the managing committee.
Noting that the building contains vital and old documents, the proposal to the PWD was forwarded for repairs and meetings were held but no deadline has come forward yet, said officials at the collectorate. A proposal to shift the comunidade office to the District Collectorate was also turned down as the location of the building near the bus stop is convenient to those who travel from far but the lack of parking space is another headache.
The staff is constantly forced to go on a pen down strike as their salaries are delayed every third month. Employees of the South Goa Administrator of Comunidades have often urged the government to absorb them in government departments and the Goan Human Rights panel has also taken up this issue by sending a notice to the government.
The employees have rued the fact that successive governments have failed to solve their problems and point out that if there is no money to pay their salaries then the government should look at absorbing them in other government departments.
Further, in addition to their woes, the managing committees of respective comunidades are also directly affected due to the government’s negligent attitude.
Recently the President of Camurlim comunidade Celso Dias objected to the appointing of works of five comunidades to a single escrivao or clerk. Giving an example of the problems at the administrator’s office, Dias explained how initially an escrivao was appointed for Verna, Nagoa and Utorda comunidades and later given additional charge of Camurlim and Raia comunidades making it a total of five comunidades.
“The escrivao attends Nagao Comunidade on Friday and first and fifth Sunday. If he is left with any time he attends other Comunidades. Verna Comunidade being a big comunidade and lots of land acquisition for Verna Industrial Estate has increased work for the escrivao leaving him with no time to attend other comunidades” said Dias.
