TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
MARGAO: Former Urban Development Minister, Joaquim Alemao has been down and out from Cuncolim, post-2012 Assembly polls. And, so appears to be his promise to allot a room for the senior citizens of Cuncolim in the Cuncolim commercial complex cum community hall.
During his reign as Cuncolim MLA, Alemao had promised the senior citizens that he would accommodate the senior citizens in one of the shops in the commercial complex near the Cuncolim market. The former minister had made the promise to the media after he failed to reserve one shop for the elders from Cuncolim in the Cuncolim bus stand.
Herald inquiries, however, have revealed that the Cuncolim Municipal Council, which has taken possession of the commercial complex cum community hall, has no plans to accommodate the elders in one of the shops. In fact, when Herald contacted CMC Chairperson Devendra Desai to throw light on Alemao’s proposal to accommodate the elders in the commercial complex, he feigned ignorance about the proposal, saying there is no such proposal from the Civic body till date.
The ruling CMC group headed by Devendra, has close ties with the former urban development minister, but they appear to be no plans for the moment to reserve one shop for the senior citizens.
When contacted, the former Cuncolim MLA confirmed that he had promised to keep one shop for the senior citizens while proposing the commercial complex cum community hall. “I had even put a note in writing that one of the shops should be reserved for senior citizens. The CMC should honour the promise,” he said, adding that he would discuss the matter with CMC Chairperson Devendra Desai.
Alemao, however, lamented that the CMC has not auctioned the shops in the commercial complex, losing revenue in the bargain. “At least, one or two banks have lined up for space in the commercial complex. The CMC have to auction the shop to earn the revenue,” he said.
Incidentally, Chairperson Desai said the Civic body has withdrawn a fixed deposit certificate before maturity to pay the Infrastructure Tax amounting to Rs 18 lakh. “Unless, we pay this tax, we cannot auction the shops,” he said.
