MARGAO
The long-pending saga over the construction of the Muslim burial ground (kabrastan) at Sonsodo has come full circle, nearly 15 years after the Public Works Department (PWD) first undertook the project before abandoning it midway.
Almost four years after the Bombay High Court at Goa directed the Goa State Urban Development Agency (GSUDA) on October 12, 2022 to complete the long-delayed burial ground within six months, the agency has now expressed its inability to execute the project and has handed the project file to the PWD.
In an affidavit filed before the High Court, the GSUDA Member Secretary detailed the practical difficulties faced by the agency in implementing the court’s October 12, 2022 order. The affidavit stated that the preparation of tender documents and completion of the tendering process alone would require around 90 days, while the actual construction would take an estimated 18 months thereafter.
The development effectively brings the project back to the very department that had initially commenced the construction over a decade ago after the Margao Municipal Council had acquired land at Sosnodo admeasuring 30,000 square metres in November 2011. Both the land acquisition for the kabrastan and the PWD’s work at the site had started during the Congress regime headed by Chief Minister Digambar Kamat.
The PWD had begun work on the Sonsodo kabrastan but abandoned the project soon after the exit of the Congress government and the return of the BJP to power in the 2012 Assembly election, leaving the burial ground incomplete due to lack of political will and administrative delays and uncertainty for the Muslim community in Margao. The incomplete project has remained a contentious issue, with repeated assurances from successive governments failing to translate into completion of the facility.
Recognising the prolonged delay after a citizen Muzaffar Manzoor Kadri filed a Public Interest Litigation Writ petition in 2019, the High Court had on October 12, 2022, directed GSUDA to take over and complete the construction of the burial ground within six months. However, despite the court’s deadline, the agency has now informed the court that it is not in a position to execute the project within the stipulated timeframe due to various issues that surfaced in the last four years.
During the latest hearing, the Advocate General informed the High Court that the State government has now entrusted the work once again to the PWD, which has assured the court that it will undertake and complete the construction within the revised timeline indicated in the affidavit.
In fact, a bar chart giving details of the work to be carried out with the timeline of the completion of the work, was also placed on record.
The latest development marks a significant turn in the prolonged kabrastan dispute, as GSUDA formally exits the project nearly four years after being tasked by the High Court with completing the long-delayed burial ground.
All eyes are now focused on the next date of hearing scheduled on July 31 after the High Court adjourned the matter to enable the State to place on record the progress made in the project as per the statement made by the Advocate General.
PWD ready to take over kabrastan work: Kamat
File photo of then Chief Minister Digambar Kamat witnessing the handing over of Sonsodo land for kabrastan by the Margao Municipal Chief Officer J Bhingui to the representatives of the Muslim body in 2011.
