MARGAO
Congress leader Chirag Naik has hit out at the Margao Draft Master Plan 2041 accusing the city’s planners of trying to rush through “cosmetic changes” to the city which has not seen any major rehaul over the last 30 years.
“For 30 years nothing has happened in Margao and now, our Margao MLA is telling us to give inputs within two days? This is a political stunt. Margao's heart, brain, and internal organs have all been exhausted. Margao’s law and order, sewerage, garbage management system, traffic management system have all run into the ground,” Naik said.
“Now they are trying to do cosmetic development of the city -- to put makeup on and show the people of Margao that all is well. This is a stunt. There is a hidden agenda behind this,” he added.
Chirag, who said he was present during the presentation at the Margao municipality hall, said the plan needed to be done systematically.
“This is not to be understood as us opposing anything and everything that the government does. If there is something good that is happening to Margao, it should happen no matter who is doing it. But it has to be done systematically,” he said, adding that the plan was drawn up by an outside consultant who “didn’t understand the A, B or C of Margao.”
“This consultant does not know the basics of Margao. They have drawn this up based on Google mappins or AI, what others have told them and presented. They don’t have answers to the questions raised,” he said.
He added: "This is a serious issue. We should criticize because it is being done in a hurry. We asked why this is in a hurry. There needs to be a system, which is why we have come forward,” he also said.
