the goan I network
MARGAO
With stiff opposition from the local residents of Borda and Raia, the government seems to have abandoned plans to build a Kabrastan at Sonsodo and is now eyeing spacious land around Margao to fulfill the long standing demand of the city’s minority community.
In fact, the government is bracing up to pass a supplementary demand in the ensuing session of the Goa Legislative Assembly to make a provision of Rs 15 crore for the procurement of the land in question before going in for the construction of the proposed kabrastan. However, whether the supplementary demands will be passed in the Assembly session or not will depend on the election code of conduct that may come into force if the Election Commission decides to hold bypolls for the Mandrem and Shiroda Assembly constituencies.
A group of Muslim leaders on Thursday called on the TCP Minister to discuss the sensitive issue of kabrastan, an issue which has been dragging in for years despite the acquisition of land admeasuring 30,000 square metres at Sonsodo.
The TCP Minister told the delegation that the government is committed to provide land for the proposed kabrastan, saying the process to procure the land in question has reached an advanced stage. He told the delegation that the land procurement for the proposed kabrastan will cost the exchequer a whopping Rs 15 crore, while exuding confidence that the government will make financial provision for the procurement of land.
Incidentally, the TCP Minister as well as the authorities have kept the proposal to procure land under wraps. It is still unclear where exactly is the location of the land eyed upon by the government to build the burial ground for the Muslim community, even though it is speculated that the land in question falls in Margao constituency.
The TCP Minister’s assurance to the Muslim delegation comes days after Sardesai announced in his Liberation Day address about the government’s commitment to resolve the long standing demand for a spacious kabrastan for the city’s Muslim community.
Sources in the know say the TCP Minister, after initially pushing the kabrastan on the acquired land at Sonsodo during the tenure of then Chief Minister Digambar Kamat, apparently did a re-think on the project following protests by the residents of Borda and neighbouring Raia against the burial ground coming up at Sonsodo.
The land acquisition process for the kabrastan at Sonsodo was completed ahead of the 2012 Assembly election, and the entire process had culminated in the signing of an agreement between the Margao Municipal Council and the Managing Committee of Jamia Masjid, Margao.
Meanwhile, the petitioner before the National Commission for the Minorities, Abdulmatin Carol has said the TCP Minister should translate his promises into action by building the burial ground for the Muslim community. Abdulmatin said the Fatorda MLA had in the past made a similar promise to construct the kabrastan at the earliest, but in vain.
Abdulmatin has threatened to move the National Commission for the Minorities as well as the Lokayukta over the delay in building a spacious kabrastan for the city’s Muslim community.
