VASCO: In letter written to the Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, Vasco MLA Carlos Almeida has requested the government to realign the containment zone, by removing the barricades at Varunapuri junction and shifting it to the nearby two-wheeler showroom at Aman building. He urged Sawant to refer to the Google Earth plan showing the containment zone for reference and to issue necessary directions immediately.
Almeida said the area from Varunapuri Gate till Navelkar building junction right up to Ambabai Temple has been sealed and is part
of the containment zone; with the buffer zone extending further.
He added that the Mangor Hill area that is under the containment zone consists of Badha Mangor (entire ward 17 and part of ward 19), which begins from Varunapuri gate till MES Gate Opposite Gurudwara and then Chota Mangor (part of ward 11 & 16) from Aman Building till Ambabai Temple.
He added, “Badha Mangor is separated from Chota Mangor by a 13,000 sq mtrs compounded property belonging to MES (Military Engineering Services) and there is no physical connection whatsoever between Badha Mangor and Chota Mangor. Till date, there have been no cases reported from the Badha Mangor area with all the COVID-19 cases identified in Mangor being confined to the area near Maruti Mandir in Chota Mangor.”
Further, in a related development, the Director of Municipal Administration (DMA) Tariq Thomas visited the Mormugao Municipal Council (MMC) on Wednesday to inquire about the health and well-being of the staff. The swabs of 38 MMC staff were also collected on Wednesday after they were taken to the Chicalim sub-district hospita.l.
MMC Vice-Chairperson Reema Sonurlekar added that the councillors also plan to have their swabs collected. She said there was a discussion about the MMC staff on a WhatsApp group, which Tariq read, following which, he dropped by. She said he made it a point to meet them and spent an hour interacting with the staff. The director spoke on various aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic. He was of the opinion that shutting down the municipality for some days won’t solve the issue and that precautions have to be taken to safeguard them from COVID-19.
