Parsekar’s version of ‘Mission Salcete’ failing to take flight

Chief Minister, Laxmikant Parsekar has often been criticised for his neglect of South Goa and Salcete taluka in particular that has eight constituencies.

Even when he was the Health Minister, he was derided for failing to pay enough attention to Hospicio, South Goa’s district hospital. The institution is crying for help and at the same time he let the under construction premises rot.

Since taking on the reigns as Chief Minister, many comparisons were made in Salcete that unlike his predecessor who infamously made ‘Salcete a mission’, Parsekar had let ‘Mission Salcete’ fade into oblivion. However, it appears that there is an attempt to revive Mission Salcete and Xaxtikars are curious if the same is just for fan fare or there will be firm assurances on boiling issues, this side of River Zuari.

Political experts point that Parsekar had received enough feedback that the many trips made by Deputy Chief Minister, Francis D’souza to Salcete were not enough and that there was a lot of unrest emitting from the former Congress bastion on various unfulfilled promises.

BJP contested the ZP panchayat elections on party lines and failed miserably in the taluka that had supported the party in the last assembly elections. Even as the BJP failed to make inroads in the Margao and Cuncolim municipality elections where they lost in embarrassing fashion, Parsekar stepped up the ante in Salcete and started making his appearance felt a little before the municipal elections set in. He recently visited Velim for the first time to inaugurate the Ambelim Sports Complex and similarly, had launched development work at SGPDA grounds in Margao, the Goa-Delhi Rajdhani Express and the Balli Bridge near Cuncolim. There were major inaugurations outside Salcete as well with the Dando–Mollo Bridge in Cortalim taluka. Parsekar’s visits are seen to rake in political mileage like his appearance for the Navelim church feast where he presented the honours to the winning team after a football match.

Parrikar’s visit to Navelim saw him mingle with people for the Navelim fair. During his marathon constituency tours with Navelim MLA, Avertano Furtado, he promised work worth crores and took his chance to take pot shots at former MLAs and the Congress. Similarly, Parrikar’s bike ride behind Benaulim MLA Caitu Silva was the talk of the town and he even participated in Sao Joao celebrations where he again hit out at the party’s opponents. While Parrikar made it a point to appear for the birthdays of the MLAs of the party and those supporting the government, Parsekar’s non-appearance for such birthday celebrations have been a damp squib. 

The public were hoping that the CM would speak on the medium of instruction issue given that Salcete played a huge role in the protests that were criticised by the BJP government. Recently there was an attack on Hospicio hospital but Parsekar and the BJP government’s stance has been, “Why spend money on Hospicio when the new hospital will come up?” Locals from Salcete feel that the new hospital will only be launched closer to the 2017 elections and be used for political mileage and not serve the interest of the people.

Why then they ask has River Sal been ignored even after the MLAs and government officials had toured the river and Parrikar had made big promises of cleaning the river completely. So far, tests have been conducted by the pollution board and a sewerage network is being laid by JICA but there hasn’t been any fresh commitment from Parsekar on River Sal, the lifeline of Salcete or to the old promises of Mission Salcete. People from Margao have questioned what happened to Parrikar’s promise for a master development plan for the city and while Panjim is in contention for a Smart City grant, the government is dilly dallying on providing grants to sort the commercial capital of Goa’s door to door garbage collection.