Reginaldo commissions water sump,enraged Churchill boycotts function
HERALD REPORTER
MARGAO, MAY 22
Commissioning of a water supply improvement scheme in Curtorim village in his absence by Curtorim MLA Reginaldo Lourenco on Saturday left PWD Minister, Churchill Alemao fuming.
That the Curtorim MLA commissioned the scheme in his absence left the PWD Minister so much agitated and perturbed that he boycotted the function and warned a PWD official of a transfer to far away Pernem on Monday.
An embarrassed Curtorim MLA literally pleaded with the PWD Minister to attend the function, but all pleas fell on his deaf ears, who insisted that Lourenco ought to have waited for him to inaugurate the water sump.
The incident occurred this evening when the stage was set to commission the 400 cu m capacity water sump built at a cost of Rs 11 lakh. The scheme was scheduled to be inaugurated at the hands of the PWD Minister, Churchill Alemao, but things turned awry when it was decided to commission the scheme because of the evening Mass.
After the sump was blessed by the Priest and inaugurated by the MLA, the PWD Minister made his presence felt at the venue, and demanded to know from Lourenco why he had invited him if he planned to inaugurate the same in his absence.
When Lourenco tried to explain that the Priest had to leave the venue because of the Mass, Alemao retorted by saying that the Priest should have been called only after he reached the venue. “You think I am free”, he questioned Lourenco and rushed to his official car to return back home.
Lourenco followed Alemao to his car in a bid to convince him to attend the function, but Alemao appeared unmoved. “This is not correct. How can you go ahead with the inauguration when you told me to come at 5.30 pm. Now, you go ahead with the inauguration, I am not interested in the function”, he said and left the venue, but not before warning a PWD official to pack his bags to go to Pernem.
Reginaldo later told Herald that there was misunderstanding on the timings since the inauguration had to be done in the absence of Alemao because of the evening Mass.
He said the sump has been built at a cost of Rs 11 lakh, while the distribution line has cost the government Rs 65 lakh. “This will cover many areas of Curtorim. Another tank will be inaugurated next month. Both these tanks will benefit a sizeable population of ST community in the village”, he added.
