Photo Credits: Margao Package_1
Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar's stand that his government has not neglected Salcete’s development may sound news to many a Madgavkar. For, the ground reality remains unchanged with respect to a host of public-utility projects that have been craving for attention over the years. Be it the worsening traffic scenario, the long-delayed city bus stand or the district hospital that is under construction, most of the public utilities are stuck up in endless delays or have failed to take off since the last four years.
Former chief minister Manohar Parrikar’s promise to Madgavkars soon after assuming office in 2012 to resolve the traffic imbroglio comprehensively on the lines of Panaji by roping in a consultant still remains unfulfilled till date, with the traffic scenario worsening with each passing day.
The ring-road project, which was mooted to ease traffic congestion in the city, is also stuck up in bureaucratic red tape. Households putting up along the alignment at Comba are awaiting rehabilitation.
Promises by the Deputy Chief Minister, Francis D’Souza to set up parking lots in the city to ease parking woes have not changed the ground reality. The two parking lots proposed opposite the KTC bus stand and pick-up stand are yet to see the light of day, with Goa State Urban Development Agency (GSUDA) reiterating its assertion that the files are stuck with the planning authorities.
The fate of the ultra-modern bus stand proposed for Margao at the fag-end of the Congress government’s tenure remains unknown. Four years have elapsed since the foundation stone was laid for the multi-crore project, but Margao is perhaps one of the towns which has no modern bus stand to this day.
Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar has promised to expedite work on the long-delayed South Goa district hospital, and commission the same by December next. The government, however, seems to have no emergency plan in place to meet the growing requirement of the ailing Hospicio till the commissioning of the new district hospital.
A health hazard stares at the residents of Fatorda, with sewage effluents finding its way into the storm water nullahs and drains for want of replacement of the ageing and dilapidated underground line. While PWD Minister Sudin Dhavlikar has promised to take up work on the replacement of the existing line on priority, officials in the know, however, revealed that it may take a year or two before the old underground sewerage line is replaced with a new line.
*Worsening traffic scenario
*Margao bus stand
*District hospital under construction
*Ring road half completed
*Overflowing sewerage
*Messy markets
*Parking woes
*Non-conventional energy park
People of Margao are witness to the absence of development in the commercial capital. People have seen over the last four years what sort of development has taken place in Margao. Any person with wide eyes will testify that Margao has not seen any development in recent times.
When queried that nothing has happened on the traffic front during the last four years, Kamat shot back, stating, “Why only traffic? Nothing has happened in the city since 2012. Barring the inauguration of the new Collectorate building constructed by my government, let the present government tell Madgavkars what projects have been initiated and completed in the city since the last four years,” Kamat asserted.
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The CM’s statement that no injustice has been done to Salcete is a cruel joke played on the people of the taluka. That the BJP government does not care one bit about the 'health and wealth' of Salcete is clear from the total neglect of these two areas. Hospicio Hospital has become a butcher’s shop, South Goa District Hospital is in terminal coma and the failure to replace the North Main Sewerage Line is a health hazard on the verge of exploding into a catastrophe. The BJP is conspiring to finish off South Goa’s tourism industry by prioritising Mopa Airport in an indecent haste. The all-round neglect is evident from the lack of progress on the Margao bus stand, Fatorda police station and the by-passes.
