MARGAO
Construction of the multi-crore modern wholesale fish market in Margao at the existing market is running behind schedule, with the Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation (GSIDC) awaiting the stakeholders, including the SGPDA, to hand over the balance market land for development.
With the plan to temporarily shift the wholesale fish market to the Sports Authority of Goa (SAG) complex near the Margao Ravindra Bhavan coming a cropper, GSIDC officials in private say that the market may not take shape as per the schedule with the SGPDA still not handing over the entire wholesale market land.
A senior GSIDC official was categorical in saying that the market construction may run behind schedule if the SGPDA and other authorities do not shift the wholesale fish market and hand over the vacant land for construction.
Inquiries revealed that while the SGPDA and the two MLAs, Vijai Sardesai and Digambar Kamat, have all zeroed in on the Sports department land near for shifting of the market, the move is yet to take place over the contentious issue of which agency will foot the bill for the market development.
GSIDC officials in private say the market development at the sports department land will cost the exchequer around Rs 1.5-2 crore to level the ground and make the basic amenities available.
The agency, however, has made it clear that the GSIDC has no funds at its disposal to finance the development of the land for the makeshift market.
A senior GSIDC official said the agency is constructing the modern wholesale fish market as a depository work for the Fisheries department. “It is for the SGPDA to get the Fisheries department to place funds at the GSIDC to carry out the makeshift market development. In the alternative, the SGPDA should foot the bill for the makeshift market,” he said.
The official added: “The GSIDC has almost completed work on the market on 50 per cent of the wholesale market land up to the plinth level. But, the market work has hit the block as the SGPDA has so far failed to hand over the balance market land for construction.”
The SGPDA, on the other hand, has taken cognisance of the ground reality given the roadblock that has hit the shifting of the wholesale fish market to the sports department land.
On the back foot over its delay in handing over the balance land to the GSIDC for speedy construction of the market, the SGPDA, sources said is now pining hopes on Chief Minister Pramod Sawant to bail out the planning body. Realising that the Fisheries department may not foot the bill for the makeshift market, sources pointed out that SGPDA Chairman MLA Krishna Salkar has dashed off a letter to the Chief Minister to direct the GSIDC to take up the work of makeshift market development with its funds.
In plain terms, the PDA has knocked on the government doors to get the GSIDC to take up the work of the makeshift market departmentally, aware that neither the planning body nor the Fisheries department may fund the makeshift market development.
The modern wholesale fish market has been taken up by the Fisheries department with funds under a centrally-funded scheme. The first phase consists of civil works estimated to cost around Rs 11 crore. The second phase will comprise logistics, including a cold storage plant inside the market complex.
