Ward no 8 in Chicalim has clean roads, streetlights, garbage management
programmes and happy residents, thanks to one man – Shikeet NunesKurt Bento/The
Goan ,Chicalim11 May 2013
The panchayati raj act exists in letter, but not in spirit on many parts of
Goa. In ward number 8 in Chicalim, a seamless delivery system of government
services, replete with SMS updates, the message of a local self-government at
work gets delivered. It needed a local adman cum panch cum village do gooder,
to lay the pitch of development.For the residents of Rakhee Residency in
Chicalim, close to Regina Mundi school, water problems were a given. An open
space outside the building gave the area a dreary look and the garbage kept
piling up in pockets. Things were not that easy for Monica Fernandes and her
fellow residents, until Shikeet Nunes arrived. Today, the building complex has
a regular water supply, garbage collection happens on a daily basis and the
open space is now a full-fledged park, with a jogging track. As the deputy
sarpanch and panch member from Ward no 8 in Chicalim, Shikeet Nunes has brought
change to his ward. Change for the better.“I think I’ve always wanted to help
people. No one thinks about other people. Just themselves,” says Fransisco
Nunes, known to everyone as Shikeet. For the past 10 years, Shikeet has toiled,
not just for people in ward no 8, but for the entire village of Chicalim. And
he likes being just a panch member. “I was the sarpanch for a while and am now
the deputy sarpanch. But you’re just a rubber stamp. Atleast as a panch I can
help my ward and the people around,” says the man who visits ward members on a
daily basis, to figure out issues and get a feel of what’s going on.A partner
in an advertising agency, along with his brother, Shikeet has put many plans in
motion as a panch member, from making sure that all 650 houses under his care
have availed of the various schemes - DSS, Griha Aadhaar, Ladli Laxmi and many
others, including the subsidised bus fare schemes, since many ward members
travels large distances to their workplaces by public transport. One unique
thing about the plans that Shikeet has implemented is the ‘sms’ service, where
messages are sent to everyone in the ward on a regular basis. It could be an
important announcement about a fete, or an update about the streetlights being
fixed in a certain area. “The people in the ward are my eyes and ears. They
keep in touch with me and I do the same in return. We also have a 70-80 member
ward committee who discuss every single issue in the village and suggest
solutions and ideas. That way when I make a decision, I will have looked at all
the angles, along with the committee,” Shikeet explains.Communication doesn’t
stop at the sms service. There’s also a weekly newsletter that lists all the
work done recently, gives people updates on any work in progress as well as
carries pictures and other details of all the events in the village, be it a
club meeting or a get together at the local school.Shikeet continues his
selfless service, coming with innovative ideas for Corporate Social
Reponsibility (CSR) by many of the MNCs in his ward, initiating a rainwater
harvesting programme at the nearby Regina Mundi School and so many other
interesting programmes that his ward members can benefit from.This just goes to
show that every act of the government is as good as the people who implement
it. And people like Shikeet go beyond acts. They just act.
