TEAM HERALD
MARGAO: It has been six months since the spacious canteen in the imposing South Goa district Collectorate was shut down for want of the mandatory license, but till date there are no signs of it opening in the near future.
Sadly, while the common man visiting the Collectorate from across the district has been left to fend for themselves, there’s no sign of the canteen opening its shutters in the near future. The reason is not too far to seek. Both the Collectorate and the contractor are yet to come to terms on the conditions in the contract – a fact that has delayed the inking of an agreement between the two parties. And if District Collector Venancio Furtado is to be believed, his office will despatch the draft agreement and the conditions to be included in the agreement to the government for a final decision.
It was at the fag end of June last that the canteen was ordered to be shut down by the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) after an inspection found that there was no mandatory license to carry out the business activity. What indeed sounds strange is the fact that the district administration and the contractor could not come to terms on the conditions in the draft agreement, driving the common man to the fast food joints in and around the Collectorate building.
If the canteen closure has put many a visitor to the Collectorate to hardships, it’s not uncommon to find visitors demanding subsidised food items in the canteen. “When the government is leasing out the premises for the benefit of the visitors from across the district, the officials should ensure that the visitors should get the food items at reasonable rates. The Collectorate canteen should not turn out any other fast food joint in the city”, remarked a frequent visitor to the Collectorate.
When Contacted, Collector Venancio Furtado attributed the delay to disagreement between the Collectorate and the contractor on the conditions in the draft agreement. “I have now decided to refer the draft agreement back to the government for necessary action”, he said.
The Collector admitted that the canteen rates ought to be on the lines of any other canteen, saying that the rates ought to be displayed for the public as in the case of the canteen in the Secretariat.
