13 yrs on, much-promised modern bus stand at Margao remains only on paper

MARGAO
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Margao earlier this year to address a massive Viksit Bharat Viksit Goa rally on February 6 last had helped to give the much-needed facelift to the dilapidated Margao KTC bus stand.

Running from a makeshift crumbling shed since the bus stand was inaugurated almost 40 years ago in the year 1985, the Margao bus stand has indeed been craving for attention. The PM’s visit did bring about a turnaround at the sprawling bus stand with the authorities replacing the cow shed type structure with a new shed and the bus stand receiving a hot-mix coat to play host for Modi’s Viksit Bharat rally.

What about the Ultra-Modern Bus Stand (UMBS) or the Fatorda Margao Bus Terminus (FMBT), which were proposed to take shape at the existing KTC bus stand to cater to the present and future bus stand requirements?

Well, Madgavkars and Fatordekars in particular and Saxttikars and the people of South Goa in general are bracing up to celebrate Dussehra festivities during the weekend, but there’s still no sign of the ultra-modern bus stand or the bus terminus taking shape at the KTC bus stand.

For, it was on Dussehra Day in the year 2011 that former Chief Minister Digambar Kamat had laid the foundation stone for a grand Ultra-Modern Bus Stand as part of the plan for upgradation of the existing Margao KTC bus stand. Sadly, exactly 13 years down the line, neither has the Ultra-Modern Bus Stand nor the Fatorda Margao Bus Terminus has taken concrete shape at the site till date.

Successive governments, including Chief Ministers and Transport Ministers that presided over the State since 2011 had handed promises to the people of South Goa to build an ultra-modern bus stand at Margao, but in vain.

When The Goan contacted Margao MLA Digambar Kamat to shed light whether the government has any proposal to take his initial project to its logical conclusion, Kamat said the government had recently discussed with Union Minister for Road and Surface Transport Nitin Gadkari to take up the Margao bus stand along with other bus stands under a central scheme. “Gadkari had promised to develop Margao and one or two other bus stands in the State under the central scheme. I had recently discussed the matter with Chief Minister Pramod Sawant. It has now been decided that the government will wait for the Centre to take a call in the next 2-3 months,” he said.

Kamat added: “If the Union government does not take the project under the Central scheme, I am of the opinion that the Goa government should execute the project under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) Mode.”

The former Chief Minister recalled that the Goa government had roped in a Delhi-based consultant to design and plan the Ultra-Modern Bus Stand in 2011. “After my exit, the plan was relegated to the background by the successive government. In 2017, then Minister Vijai Sardesai tried to revive the project after some modifications by seeking inputs from the Delhi-based consultant. Somehow, the project could not take off,” he rued.

The Goa government seemed to have not adopted a firm stand on how to go about the upgradation of the Margao bus stand. Former Transport Minister Ramkrishna Dhavalikar once told the Goa Legislative Assembly that the government would take up the Margao bus stand for development under the Central government’s bus port scheme.

His successor Mauvin Godinho told the Goa Legislative Assembly in 2022 that the government was exploring the possibility of taking up the construction of the Margao bus stand under the PPP model.

However, at a function held at the Margao KTC bus stand to launch the Mhaji bus scheme, Godinho had announced that the government would take up the construction of Margao and other main bus stands under the Central government scheme.