1 to 31st August 2014
Vishwas Satarkar
Ex MLA of Priol, former speaker of Goa Legislative Assembly
Ponda Taluka
has three Industrial
estates -Kundaim ,
Madkaim and Bethora. I feel that facilities at these Industrial estates are
not used optimally
for the benefit of
the Ponda taluka and the state at large.
As is the case with the rest of Goa, unemployment is a burning issue in Ponda taluka
too. If our Industrial estates are managed in a
planned manner considerable employment can
be generated here. But to achieve this Goa’s
Industrial Policy needs a thorough revamp.
Industries that can utilize the skill sets of
Goans at all levels need to be given priority.
Industries like the alloy industries employ
more migrant workers than locals giving rise
to many additional problems. Setting up of
Knowledge based industries is an option that
needs to be thoroughly explored.
Also, sick units should be weeded out of the
industrial estates so that the infrastructure can
be made available for more deserving units.
Secondly, despite being in the close proximity of the Opa Water supply plant, many
villages in Ponda like Priol, Volvoi, Kerim,
Betki face water supply shortage during
summer. Water has to be supplied to these
villages in tankers. Even fifty five years after
Independence we are not in a position to provide basic necessities to the people of Ponda
in an uninterrupted manner. This is a sorry
state of affairs.
Proper management of water resources and planned infrastructure for smooth
flow of water supply are the need of
the hour.
Parking is another major issue in Ponda but
hardly anything has been done to take care of
this problem as of now.
Shridhar Kamat Bambolkar
Renowned Artist
One major issue I would
like to point out is the stray
cattle menace. If you go
around Ponda Taluka these
days especially during night
time you will find the roads
literally captured by cattle’s
squatting on the roads refusing to budge. Moreover
the roads are filled with
cowdung all over. Both these factors taken together are
a sure invite for mishaps. My request to the authorities
is please don’t wait for some major tragedy to occur
to put this issue on your priority list.
Respective panachayats and civic bodies should
take firm measures to tackle this problem. Fine
should be levied, if the need be, on the owners of
these cattle’s so that they refrain from letting their
cattles go stray.
The other issue is about the absence of basic infrastructure facilities in the schools of the taluka. It
is a irony that we are spending crores trying to make
our next generation high tech but are not able to
provide them with basic facilities like clean toilets,
good drinking water and hygienic and comfortable
classrooms. Students, more specifically girl students
are having tough time due to lack of proper toilets
facility.
Also there are quite a few