Pernem's new police station left hanging

MAPUSA: The government is yet to take a decision over the Pernem police station building even over three months after the death of the contactor who was assigned the project. The work has temporarily been suspended, and cops and citizens alike are faced with inconvenience as the temporary office in government quarters is congested and without facilities.The government has not yet decided over whether to re-tender the project ,or even how to go about it.
Government contractor Vishwas Harmalkar, a resident of Silvanagar-Ponda who hanged himself to death at Mayem in May, was the contractor of the new building for the Pernem police station. In his suicide note, he said that payments pending by the public works department (PWD) drove him to take the extreme step.
The PWD has written to the government over the issue, but they haven't got a reply yet.
"There has to be a joint estimate of the project, the government should decide on the work completed and the pending work, and contractor has to be paid for completed work," J S Rego, the PWD's principal chief engineer, said.
"There has to be a succession deed as the contractor has died, and if payments have to be made, the government should decide to whom it should pay that amount," Rego said.
The construction work for the new police station building at Pernem had begun in December 2010 and the stipulated time for completion of the project was December 2011, but as of now, the ground floor is not ready.
Sources informed TOI that the project cost 2.78 crore, and around 60-70 lakh work has been completed. The PWD has cleared two bills of the work done. PWD sources also told TOI that bills of 25-30 lakh of the work done amount was pending.
Sources also informed TOI that one of the tenants of the land was creating some problems for the contractor, and that work was getting delayed over that, thus upsetting him. The tenant has allegedly encroached on some part of the land.
"We have moved the proposal to the government for the joint estimates and the payment to the earlier contractor and for retendering of the project. The reply from the government is awaited," Rego said .
The building, presently being built, involves ground plus two floors, and is supposed to have all facilities required for a police station. Presently, the police station manages with the lock up facilities of the Mapusa and Anjuna police stations.