MARGAO
An ambitious decade-old proposal to carve out new police stations in the Margao Police sub-division, having jurisdiction over Salcete taluka, seems to have hit a block. The three new police stations were proposed to be carved out from the existing police stations in the Margao police division.
However, of the three new police stations, only the Fatorda police station became a reality around half a decade ago, while the fate of the remaining police stations at Navelim and Benaulim remains unknown.
The proposal to set up three new police stations was mooted over a decade ago for better policing in the densely populated Salcete taluka. The proposal, however, remained on paper until 2017, when Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai got the Home Department to set up the Fatorda police station after he became a Minister in the Manohar Parrikar regime. Though the initial proposal was to carve out the new Fatorda police station by merging areas of Fatorda, along with the villages of Nuvem and Loutolim, the jurisdiction of the Fatorda police station was finally restricted to the limits of the Fatorda Assembly constituency.
A retired police officer in the know informed that the whole idea of creating the police stations at Fatorda and Navelim was to relieve the Margao police station, which was overburdened with policing and other duties. It is another matter that the Fatorda police station finally ended up having areas within its jurisdiction aligned with the political boundaries of the Fatorda Assembly constituency, he added.
The lack of suitable space, however, seems to have grounded plans to set up the Navelim police station. “The Fatorda police station saw the light of day after the government quarters at Arlem came in handy to house the police station building. The absence of land has come in the way of the Navelim police station becoming a reality to date,” sources informed.
Sources further stated that the Goa police made efforts to find a place to house the Navelim police station on the ground floor of the Navelim Panchayat Ghar. The proposal, however, was shot down by the villagers on the grounds that it does not augur well for a police station to function inside a Panchayat building. Ex-Navelim MLA Luizinho Faleiro also tried to push for the Navelim police station during his tenure, but in vain.
Incidentally, the proposal to carve out a new Benaulim police station, having jurisdiction over Salcete’s coastal villages, has failed to take off for reasons best known to the police department.
Sources said the proposal to carve out a separate Benaulim police station was mooted because the Colva police station had jurisdiction over all the villages along Salcete’s coastal belt, right from Cavelossim to Carmona, Orlim, Varca, Benaulim, Colva, Seraulim, Betalbatim and Majorda.
Sources added that the proposal to bifurcate the Colva police station into Colva and Benaulim police stations was apparently made given that Salcete’s tourist belt is a prime tourist destination visited by both foreign and domestic tourists, besides being a densely inhabited area.
