Panaji: Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Tuesday stressed on enhancing the 112 Emergency Response Support System to significantly reduce the response time across the state.
The directions were issued by Sawant during a high-level meeting held at Mantralaya with top officers. He also reviewed the key agenda of the 27th meeting of the Western Zonal Council.
Directing officials to explore the best practices of successful governance models from other states for potential implementation in Goa, Sawant also issued instructions to strengthen the banking network and accessibility to ensure that every village in the state has a bank branch within a 3-km radius.
A review of the preparation for the upcoming annual state budget was also taken during the meet. The state budget is scheduled to be presented in the legislative assembly on March 26. Sawant said that he reviewed the state’s expenditure and status of key assurances during the meeting.
Sawant directed the District Magistrates to identify and eliminate illegal slums, reinforcing efforts toward planned urban development.
The Chief Minister instructed officials to formulate master plans for Vasco, Margao and Mapusa cities, and a review was also done on revision of Panaji’s master plan.
Deliberation was held during the meeting on malnutrition in rural areas and implementation of measures to reduce school dropout rate.
With regard to judicial reforms, Sawant asked officials to accelerate the implementation of special fast-track courts for swift disposal of rape cases and cases under POCSO Act.
Officials who attended the meeting included Chief Secretary Dr V Candavelou, IAS, Director General of Police (DGP) Alok Kumar and others.
