Joaquim’s ambitious project finds no favour with MLA
TEAM HERALD
MARGAO: Former urban development minister Joaquim Alemao’s ambitious housing project for the Scheduled Tribes inhabiting Gaonkarwaddo-Panzorconne in Cuncolim under the National Slum Development Program is down in the dumps.
For, the project which envisaged construction of houses for the Scheduled Tribes under the Central scheme, has not found favour with his successor and incumbent BJP MLA Rajan Naik, who has decided to take care of the housing requirements of the ST population via the State Tribal Welfare Board.
Says MLA Rajan Naik: “After my election, I reviewed the housing project mooted under HUDCO and I found the beneficiaries in a confused state of mind. They had a host of queries ranging from the ownership of the constructed house, the size of the house to be financed by HUDCO etc. Finally, I had a meeting with Tribal Welfare Minister Ramesh Tawadkar, who has promised to take up housing of the Scheduled Tribes not just in Gaonkarwaddo, but across the Cuncolim constituency”.
He said the Tribal Welfare Scheme for housing provides a grant of Rs 70,000 for house repairs and Rs 2.50 lakh for construction of a new house. “The survey is presently underway to identify the beneficiaries”, the MLA added.
Former Cuncolim MLA Joaquim Alemao had proposed to build around 55 houses in Gaonkarwaddo in Panzorconne ward under the National Slum Development Program. Estimated to cost Rs 4.5 crore, HUDCO had pledged funds to the tune of Rs 1.5 crore, while the State government had agreed to fund the balance work amounting to Rs three crore.
Cuncolim Municipal Council Chairperson Devendra Desai told Herald that HUDCO had dispatched its first installment of Rs 70 lakh, which is lying unspent since the last eight months in view of the changing circumstances.
“Under the scheme, each household was supposed to get a new house admeasuring 25 sq mts, but the size was enhanced to 45 sq mts after Alemao gave an undertaking that the State government would bear the additional cost. The scheme envisaged a community hall, drainages and development of a cowshed”, Desai said.
“The scheme is down and out. The local MLA has disclosed plans to take up the housing project under the State Tribal Welfare Scheme”, the CMC Chairperson added.
