OLD GOA: Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant reviewed various works underway for the solemn exposition of the Relics of Saint Francis Xavier and urged upon respective HoDs to discharge their responsibilities in completing the assigned tasks at a meeting held in the presence of Minister For Law and Judiciary and Dy Chairman Aleixo Sequeira and Secretary Revenue and Commissioner-I Sandip Jacques at the Exposition Secretariat, Old Goa.
Chief Minister urged all the Functional Heads to conduct a site visit to ensure that nothing is left incomplete and also suggested to have a mock drill on November 18 to put and sort out issues, if any. Complete and handover the place to the assigned departments/agencies by November 15, he directed.
CM emphasised on providing sound public transport to pilgrims of Panaji, Margao, Mapusa and Vasco to Old Goa and back at specific timings with due publicity for effective traffic management for common person. Small EV buses could be used to ferry people from designated parking lots. Supdt of Police was directed to post designated police officials to manage traffic all along the route.
Dr Sawant also directed the Police Officials to create awareness among the pilgrims to be cautious about pick pocketing to ensure safety of their belongings besides the installation and monitoring of CCTV Cameras all across.
Minister For Law and Judiciary Aleixo Sequeira called on the officials to show urgency and exhorted to complete the works within the time frame provided while reviewing the various works to be executed by line departments for the forthcoming Solemn Exposition of the Relics of St Francis Xavier.
Old Goa Sarpanch Megha Parvatkar; North Goa Collector Dr Sneha Gite; Supdt of Police Arshi Adhil; Fr Lawrence Fernandes, SFX, Pillar and member of the Exposition Coordination Committee and senior govt Officials were among those present on the occasion.
Sequeira reiterating government commitment to execute the works committed to the Church authorities directed the PWD department to take on board more agencies to ensure that the civil works which are underway are taken on war footing and completed well within the time frame provided.
Jacques underscored the need to effectively publicise the various facilities being put in place for the benefit of the pilgrims and more so the traffic regulations during the exposition for ease of the pilgrims and to avoid inconvenience. Professional agencies be used to maintain hygiene and cleanliness at all toilet blocks, he added.
Public Works Department presented a walkthrough video on the present status of works which included the accommodation, approach road management, parking lots, basic amenities of water, sanitary, etc. Matters of medical facilities, security, traffic management, waste management, queue system for veneration, conveyance to pilgrims from designated parking lots, barracks for police and fire services personnel, electrical, parking for different categories, issue of accreditation cards to different officials etc were discussed threadbare.