MARGAO
Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte descended on the historic Betul Fort on Monday to promise the local populace to beautify the fort, but only after all the issues of the Customs House and Archaeology are fixed by involving the State government and the Centre.
He also inspected the Naqueri plateau where land acquired by the government running into lakhs of square metres for the Food Park and Auxiliary Services is lying unutilised and to explore the possibility of putting the land to use.
Making his presence at the historic fort with his Ministerial colleagues Nilesh Cabral and Subhash Phaldessai and MLA Altone D’Costa in tow as part of Chief Minister Pramod Sawant’s Minister’s at the people’s doorsteps programme, Khaunte said there will be no problem in declaring the Betul Fort as a historic site by involving the Archaeology department and beautified by the Tourism department.
“But, we have to find to fix the issues with the Customs department since they have a House at the site. The Tourism department will take up the beautification, but after resolving the issues,” he added.
Taking cognisance of the sentiments of the residents that the Fort is being misused by anti-social elements, the Tourism Minister issued strict instructions to the Goa Police to reign in on the anti-social activities.
“We have no problem if people come here for night viewing, but under no circumstance will we allow drinking and nuisance at the site. The police must put such anti-social elements behind bars,” Khaunte said.
He added: “We have to put the role of customs in place. The role of the department of Archaeology will be identified. The locals and the panchayat had to do the follow-up to take the beautification project to its conclusion.”
Minister for Archaeology Subhash Phaldessai explained to the residents how the present government has accorded importance and recognition to the Betul Fort.
He pointed out that it is just a matter of time before the fort is beautified and its glory restored after resolving all the issues.
The residents drew the attention of the ministers to the hardships faced by the senior citizens in making it to the fort, demanding that the authorities lay the steps.
The ministers later descended on the government-acquired land for the Food Park and Auxiliary Services to explore the possibility of putting the acquired land to create employment opportunities.
The Minister informed that the land at the Naqueri plateau was acquired for the Food Park before the project was scrapped.
“It is not right for me to comment on why the intended projects were scrapped. Right now, we have not discussed what project should come up on the acquired land. We have not yet initiated the thought process. We will discuss the issue with the panchayat,” he added.
