PANJIM: Sheetal Naik corporator of Ward No. 5 believes in the slogan ‘Clean Ward Green Ward’ which is on the lines of the Swachh Bharat Mission. The restoration of a dump yard into a garden, housing societies using kitchen waste to manure their kitchen garden and illumination are what changes she brought to the ward.
But there is also another side to the ward, where residents complain of potholed roads in certain areas of the small ward that stretches from Kamat Estate to Sabnis Monarch.
Residents allege that temporary repairs to roads are carried out only when elections or events like International Film Festival of India approach. The rest of the year the road lies neglected.
“This is election time and coincidentally CCP and State elections are close to each other. Patch-up works are carried out when we approach elections or national/international events,” proprietor of a mini-restaurant Sanjay, declining to divulge his full name, told Herald.
Another resident alleged that potholes reappear on the patched-up roads but repairs don’t cease. “It’s always a failure to fill up the patches despite which the work continues,” he said.
The BJP-backed coporator who will be back in the fray for the upcoming Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP) polls scheduled next month denies the allegations arguing that uneven roads undergo carpeting instead of mere patch works. “No patch works. Such potholed roads undergo carpeting. Take a look at the roads,” she defended.
While bad roads are an issue across certain areas of the ward, Naik brags of converting a dumping zone into a garden, installing street lights around at a housing society and insisting on ‘clean and green ward’.
“An abandoned open space was used to dump garbage. We restored it into a garden. There are housing societies that have set up composting pits and make constructive use of it. They grow vegetable and fruit bearing trees using kitchen waste,” she stated.
