MARGAO
It was around 5.45 pm on December 9, 2011. The Margao Municipality had almost closed its office for the day, but the municipal chairperson Sushila Naik and then chief officer J B Bhingui were seated in the chairperson’s chamber along with representatives of the Muslim community.
They were anxiously awaiting the arrival of then chief minister and Margao MLA Digambar Kamat to witness the signing of a historic agreement between the Margao municipal chairperson Sushila, Chief Officer Bhingui and the president of Jamia Masjid, Najib Saudagar, to hand over the acquired land at Sonsodo admeasuring 30,000 square metres to the Jamia Masjid for management and maintenance.
A beaming Kamat was quick to tell the waiting scribes that “the kabrastan issue has been an important item on his election manifesto, and the same stands fulfilled today”.
Leaders of the Muslim community, including Atik Banducda and others, were quick to shower praises on the Margao MLA, saying the Muslim community will never forget Kamat’s role in acquiring the Sosnodo land for kabrastan.
The agreement between the MMC and the Jamia Masjid envisaged that the municipal body will transfer management and maintenance of the acquired Sonsodo land to the Muslim body, with the government undertaking to fund the development of the land.
Exactly a decade down the lane, the proposed kabrastan is yet to take shape at Sonsodo or elsewhere in the commercial capital. Kamat continues to preside over Margao as the city MLA, but leave alone a burial ground, the acquired land at Sonsodo is no more marked on the Margao Outlined Development Plan (ODP) for the intended purpose to set up a kabrastan. Instead of kabrastan, what is shown on the Margao ODP 2028 is a housing project, erection of a power substation, with the balance land marked as an orchard.
The acquired land at Sonsodo for the kabrastan, as well as the agreement between the MMC-Jamia Masjid, is only confined to the papers, with the SGPDA in 2019 changing the land zone for housing and orchard, indicating the land in question cannot be utilized for the purpose for which it was acquired by the Margao Municipality in 2011.
Inquiries have only revealed that following a change of political guard in 2012 when the BJP returned to power in the state, the Sonsodo land remained idle as a host of questions came to the fore, including the question from certain members of the Muslim community that the acquired land is not suited for a burial ground given its steep gradient.
However, when most of the community members later accepted Sonsodo land for the kabrastan, residents of Borda and Gogol opposed the proposal near the existing cemetery at Sonsodo. When the SGPDA had opened the Margao Outline Development Plan (ODP) 2028 for suggestions and objections, the PDA had in 2019 marked the acquired land for low-cost housing and to set up a sub-station. The same OPD, however, shifted the kabrastan proposal to Sirvodem and land in the jurisdiction of the Navelim village Panchayat.
To date, however, the long-awaited kabrastan for the Muslim community is yet to see the light of the day.
Everyone should wait for HC order: Kamat
MARGAO:
The architect of the land acquisition at Sonsodo for the burial grounds for the Muslim community, Digambar Kamat, has said that since the High Court is seized of the kabrastan matter, everyone should wait for the Court order on the contentious issue.
When The Goan called up the Margao MLA to tell him that the kabrastan is yet to see the light of the day even though the land for the burial grounds was acquired by the Margao Municipal Council during his stint as Chief Minister, Kamat appeared on a defensive note, saying the High Court is seized of the matter.
Aware that the issue has taken centre stage on the eve of the 2022 Assembly polls with the South Goa Planning and Development Authority (SGPDA), Kamat preferred not to go into the details of why the burial grounds for the Muslim community has not taken shape for the last one decade. He also did not touch on the contentious issue of how the SGDPA had changed the zone of the Sonsodo land to housing when it was solely acquired for the kabrastan.
“The matter is presently before the High Court. Details of the agreement signed by the MMC with the Jamia Masjid on December 9, 2011, are also in the domain of the High Court”, Kamat said, adding “let us wait for the outcome of the matter in the High Court”.
OBJECTIONS TO DRAFT ODP: PDA TO SEEK LANDOWNER’S OPINION
MARGAO:
As Muslim bodies are filing objections to the draft-ODP 2031 before the South Goa Planning and Development Authority, SGPDA Member Secretary Ranjit Borkar has said that the PDA will seek the stand of the landowner, the Margao Municipal Council, before taking any decision to change the status of the acquired land.
“If the Margao Municipality is the owner of the land at Sonsodo, acquired for the kabrastan, the PDA will allow the MMC to give their opinion on the acquired land before changing the zone of the land in question. Similarly, if farmers have lodged objections to revert the status of the acquired fields at Madel and opposite the Margao railway station, the opinion of the landowner, the Goa State Urban Development Agency will be sought before making a decision”, the SGPDA Member secretary stated.
