SHOAIB SHAIKH | NT
PANAJI: Issues such as incomplete Porvorim market complex, insufficient water supply, state of roads and lack of open spaces for sports activities have remained to be resolved in the constituency.
Every Goan in the state wishes for his neighbourhood to be planned and developed and the residents of Porvorim are no different. People wish that the haphazard development stops and a master plan for the satellite town is prepared by the next government.
The most perennial problem for the people residing in Alto-Porvorim and surrounding areas is the lack of a proper market complex. The old market is in a dilapidated condition and very often used by anti-social elements. Though a new market complex is in the making, the pace of the work is very slow and is pending completion.
A youth said, “Porvorim’s population has multiplied manifolds but the planning has not happened accordingly. In terms of housing infrastructure one can see a number of housing projects coming up everywhere in the constituency because it is the most sought after place today since it is close to the capital and is atop a plateau.”
A homemaker said that due to lack of proper market complex she is forced to travel to Panaji to buy her household provisions. “We will still buy the daily groceries from the stores nearby or go to the new super markets that have opened up recently, but what about fish. To buy fish I have to go to Panaji market because you don’t get the best fish here.”
A senior citizen said that the market complex would have eased a lot of hardships for many as people would be able to get all the necessary daily commodities at one place.
BJP’s candidate Guruprasad Pawaskar, however, taking a dig at the incumbent independent MLA Rohan Khaunte said that the place for the market is not the most appropriate one. “The site chosen for the market is a wrong place. The complex was first proposed at the old market which is in shambles now.”
The other perennial issue that has been plaguing the plateau is the insufficient water supply. The surrounding village areas of Alto-Porvorim have been facing water supply problem for more than a decade.
Khaunte stated that during his term as MLA, he has put in place the entire required infrastructure for a well connected and uninterrupted water supply network. “I have taken up the genuine issues of the people and resolved them at the earliest. My performance is more than 100 percent of the manifesto that I had promised in 2012.”
Stating that the water woes of the people will end soon, he said “A water reservoir is under constructions atop the plateau while there are two over head tanks that are almost at completion stage. With the infrastructure in place, a well laid pipeline network, the water issues will be resolved soon.”
Porvorim constituency which has the government’s major administrative set-up including the Goa Assembly complex has time and again become an eyesore in the past due to the pathetic road conditions. Khaunte accused the government of unplanned development leading to traffic woes.
While the motorists suffer on the roads, back home the local youth in recent past have been deprived of their grounds. A sports enthusiast at the local playground said “Porvorim was always a sportsperson’s paradise because of the many grounds that one could find. But in the recent past it’s all about housing projects and the playgrounds have vanished.”
Pawaskar said that the market complex has taken away the playground from the local youth. “This place where the market project is coming up, thousands of youth would play. Senior citizens and ladies would go for a walk and now Porvorim is lacking playgrounds,” he added.
Contrary to the claims, Khaunte boasts of a basketball court, badminton courts, skating rinks and multipurpose playground. In his manifesto, the incumbent has promised to further focus on taking up initiatives for multipurpose sports complex facilities in each of the village panchayat areas.