The Salvador-do-Mundo panchayat office also houses the offices of animal husbandry, talathi, MGNREGS and the post office in a meagre 80 sq mt space. Plans for new complex await TCP clearance
Don’t be surprised to find valuable records at the Salvador-do-Mundo Panchayat scattered across the post office and at the Animal Husbandry office in the village.
With a paltry area of 80 sq mt, the ‘office’ of the Salvador-do-Mundo Panchayat at Saloi is meagre by any standards. But what adds to the congestion is the fact that the small structure also houses the post office, Talathi, Animal Husbandry and Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme.
A new project of the Panchayat Ghar of Salvador-do-Mundo is yet to be approved by the Town and Country Planning (TCP) department.
There is insufficient space to accommodate the panchayat staff and records of the panchayat. As a result, many records of the panchayat office are located in the offices of post, talathi and the animal husbandry. With panchayat records scattered all over these offices, the panchayat staff find it difficult to locate files.
What has also added to the misery of the panchayat staff is that that many tiles of the roof are broken and rainwater has been seeping in the panchayat office.
In the absence of a toilet facility, the panchayat staffers have to use the toilets at the neighbouring Sunandabai Bandodkar High School. And when the school is closed after noon, the hapless panchayat staffers have to request owners of nearby houses to let them use their toilet facilities.
Given the many problems with the existing panchayat office, the Salvador-do-Mundo Panchayat had requested the State government for a panchayat ghar. Following a clearance from the State government, the Panchayat sought the services of the Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation to prepare the project for a Panchayat Complex and submitted it to the Town and Country Planning Department (TCP) and also had the project approved.
Later, the panchayat decided to add some more facilities like a gym, veterinary clinic, badminton court, etc, to the Panchayat Complex and accordingly, submitted the revised application on July 3 to the TCP, requesting technical clearance for the construction of a multi-purpose hall and office building.
According to the new project, the Panchayat Complex is expected to consist of a spacious panchayat office, a gym, library, badminton hall, multipurpose hall, veterinary clinic, post office and shops, in an area of 3,864 sq mt. The estimated cost of the project is Rs 22 crore. A provision for Rs 5 crore has already been made in the current budget.
However, the panchayat was in for a rude shock when it received a letter from the TCP on July 26 stating that, “The proposed FAR is more than the permissible limit, the site plan does not tally with earlier approved plan and the dimension is not indicated on the plan.”
Speaking to Herald, Porvorim MLA Rohan Khaunte said the purpose of revising the earlier approved plan was to accommodate additional facilities in the panchayat Complex.
“The population of Salvador-do-Mundo in increasing by the day and the present population is about 9,000. It would be convenient for residents of Salvador-do-Mundo if all facilities are made available to them under one roof,” said Khaunte.
“Hence, earlier plan was revised and since TCP has not approved the revised plan, the panchayat will have to approach the Directorate of Panchayats and the secretary for Panchayats again to get their clearance for the revised FAR and then forward again the project to the TCP.”
“This is a time-consuming process. Since this is a community-based project, the TCP could have favourably considered the project submitted by the panchayat,” said Kaunte.
