PONDA: The Ponda Municipal Council (PMC) said on Friday that it is close to declaring the town was Open Defecation Free (ODF), but there are few houses without toilets.
The council discussed various issues affecting the town at its meeting on Friday, where it was pointed out that there are few houses in the town without toilets as the landlords are objecting to construction of toilets by the occupants.
Addressing the media after the meeting, PMC Chairman Pradeep Naik said that except for few house, all other houses in the town have toilet facilities. “The PMC is close to declaring the municipality as Open Defecation Free (ODF). But there are few houses which have no toilets. Objections by landlords to this few houses deprived the PMC the status of ODF municipality,” Naik said.
“We conducted a survey in 2016 and found only 34 houses were without toilet facilities. Later we constructed toilets for all these houses. But now some councillors have complained that some houses in their respective wards have no toilet facilities and they are facing objections from the landlords to build toilets for the houses. However, the PMC has provided common toilet facilities to such houses. If DMA allows permission, then PMC would be in a position to declare the municipality as ODF,” he said.
When asked why the non-functioning streetlights in the town have not been replaced, the chairman said that the Electricity Department does not permit the municipality to make electrical purchases including streetlights.
“After we installed LED lights in few wards, the government stopped us from making electrical purchases. So, the councillors are facing difficulties in repairing the streetlights. After the locals complained about non-functional streetlights, many times the Councillors spend their own money to install tube lights and bulbs. Now, we are facing financial problem in repairing the streetlights,” Naik said.
He said that few years ago GSUDA (Goa State Urban Development Agency) had installed LED lights replacing old tube lights, bulbs etc. “LED lights were installed in six wards, but they are not functioning now and people are blaming the councillors for it. When we dial the agencies concerned to complain about the non-functioning streetlights, but nobody attends the phone calls. Repairing the LED lights has become problem for us,” he complained.
