MARGAO
First citizen of Margao, Babita Angle Prabhudesai has preferred not to offer her comments on TCP Minister and Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai’s idea of bifurcating the Margao Municipal Council and carving out a separate municipal body for
Fatorda constituency.
Madgavkars in general, including a host of present and past MLAs who represented both Margao and Fatorda in the Legislative Assembly, besides former municipal chairpersons and citizens alike, however, have reacted cautiously to Sardesai’s proposal, with some even questioning the very rationale behind mooting the idea, while others raised a host of questions, right from the economic and financial viability of the new municipal body to the core question whether a new body can offer a solution to the ills plaguing the Margao municipality.
“I would not like to comment on the TCP Minister’s proposal, for the simple reason that Sardesai has mooted two proposals, whether Fatorda can be a separate municipal body or can the entire MMC be converted into a Corporation. Hence, I have decided to reserve my comment on the issue,”
Babita asserted.
While six-time sitting Margao MLA Digambar Kamat pointed out that a municipality or panchayat is carved out based on certain laid down criteria, former minister and three-time former Fatorda MLA, Luis Alex Cardozo opined that a separate council is not really required to solve the woes plaguing the commercial capital.
Former two-time Fatorda MLA Damu Naik said the proposal needs to be deliberated, discussed and debated threadbare before taking any call, saying that dividing a house is not a solution to the ills plaguing a family. Thinker and city-based businessman, Datta Naik said that move appears regressive in nature given that the trend all over is the
upgradation of existing municipalities into corporations by including areas on the city outskirts.
