PANJIM: Sports Minister Govind Gaude has literally announced ‘Let’s Play’.
On a surprise inspection of the Ponda sports complex, he inspected the pool area and the audience stand, the washrooms and questioned the staff members about the maintenance of the complex; he asked them if they require more staff, after seeing the condition of the place.
Gaude also inspected the attendance sheet of the workers and asked them about the irregular patterns of some of the employees and why it was signed when they were not present at work.
Gaude met the young sports enthusiasts present at the complex and assured them that they will be provided with good equipment and the place will be maintained well in order that they bring laurels to the State.
Within a few hours Gaude took a new call. He has ordered a resurvey of the land belonging to the Directorate of Sports and Youth Affairs, which was allegedly illegally encroached by Panjim Gymkhana. Taking note of media reports, the Sports Minister conducted an in-person inspection of the land.
He said he observed that thousands of square metres of government land had been illegally encroached by Panjim Gymkhana.
“Today in the inspection, we have observed that thousand of sq metres of government land has been illegally encroached by Panjim Gymkhana; my department shall pursue this matter,” he added.
Gaude ordered a resurvey of the land in eight days through a government surveyor.
The Minister assured that the land encroached by the gymkhana would be re-occupied after conducting a new survey.
At the core of the issue are the claims over the land since 2017. The gymkhana at that time had said that it was a non-issue since a demarcation done by the Land and Survey Department in the presence of SAG officials found that part of SAG land was actually leased to Panjim Gymkhana and once the demarcation process was finished, a compound wall was built demarcating the property as per the land survey records.