MARGAO: Water Resources Minister Filipe Neri Rodrigues stated that the climate change has become major issue all over the world and everyone must be prepared for the disaster due to the same.
He was speaking after laying foundation stone for multi-purpose cyclone shelter project in the presence of Leader of Opposition and Margao MLA Digambar Kamat at Aquem, Margao on Tuesday.
"Climate change has become major issue all over the world. Because of climate change, whole eco-system has been affected. And hence there will be biggest problem of giving shelter to affected people in future with regard to disasters", he added.
He further said that the WRD department has a big challenge with regard to completion of this project. "One of the big challenges is issue of land. People think twice before giving his or her land for the government project. And because of which many projects have been opposed. Even the same type of project has been opposed in my Velim constituency. People must change their mindset with regard to the projects for good cause. We are doing this for the purpose of posterity. Thinking that disaster may affect us we must be prepared for the same", he stated.
Filipe Neri also congratulated Leader of the Opposition and MLA of Margao Digambar Kamat for providing land to above project.
Instructing officers of WRD, he said that there are always issues with regard to the contractors and quality controllers. "Quality control issue is not in our hand and we have noticed that there has been always conflicts between quality controller and contractor and as a result the works get affected. Because of which some contractors are not encouraged to speed up the work", he added.
He also said that other project concerns with water resources in Margao constituency will be taken up and the work of few has been already started. "There is a need to improve the geometry and hydraulic of nullahs of Margao. I assured that the nullahs of Margao will be re-organised, which will benefit the Margao people", he stated.
Leader of the Opposition Digambar Kamat said that this project of multi-purpose cyclone shelter is important project. "This project is more important to Margao city as every year several places of Margao come underwater in the monsoon. There are four places in Margao which are low lying areas that are seen flooded. And later on, they are been shifted to Fatorda stadium. This is one of the best projects of the Central government", he added.
The National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project (NCRMP) is a flagship program, the first World Bank-funded project in India exclusively focussing on ex-ante disaster risk mitigation. It is being implemented by the National Disaster Management Authority, New Delhi with support from the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, focussing on cyclone-prone coastal States and Union Territories. The total cost of the project is nearly Rs 4.7 crores and is awarded to Premier Builders Goa.