Margao: Chief minister Pramod Sawant has assured Quepem residents that the long-delayed Quepem police station building will be completed by March 2027, with work set to resume within a month.Residents, led by former vice-chairperson of Quepem municipal council Amol Kanekar, met Sawant during his visit to the town earlier this week for the govt’s ‘Sarkar Tumchea Dari’ initiative. They said the building has been under construction for over seven years.Kanekar said residents requested the CM to ensure the building is completed at the earliest, and he instructed PWD officials to take up the work on priority. “The CM assured us that the work would begin within a month, and that it will be completed by March 2027,” he said.“The delay in completion of the police station building has added to the inconvenience of the residents. Had this building come up in time, we would have had a fire station and a sub-divisional police office by now,” said Kanekar.In Aug, Quepem MLA Altone D’Costa led a protest demanding that the state release funds and issue a fresh work order and warned of an agitation if internal works did not begin within 15 days. He said the people of Quepem were ready to raise funds themselves if govt could not complete the building.He highlighted that residents currently have to hire a motorcycle or rickshaw to reach the existing police station, nearly a kilometre from the town.The project was sanctioned in Nov 2016, with an expenditure sanction of Rs 5 crore granted in Jan 2020. Work began in Feb 2020, with a Feb 2021 deadline. Though the RCC structure and septic tanks were completed, the contract was terminated after over Rs 4 crore was spent between 2020-21 and 2024-25.According to D’Costa’s reply to an assembly question, soil tests necessitated a shift from an isolated to a raft foundation, increasing concrete, steel and excavation costs and exhausting the original fund allocation. A revised estimate of Rs 5.2 crore, covering finishing works, utilities, a compound wall and landscaping, was prepared, and the work was re-awarded to Shivam Infratech. However, finishing works remain stalled pending expenditure approval, and no fresh work order has been issued.The new building will house the office of the sub-divisional police officer (SDPO), with one floor for the Indian Reserve Battalion, besides a library, canteen, conference hall and surveillance room.
