Kabrastan access: Questions galore as site inspection report cites encroachments

MARGAO
The report of the site inspection of the road to the proposed kabrastan at Sonsodo is out and so are a host of questions.

While the site inspection report has shed light that an existing compound wall, tar road with gates on both ends encroached in the land acquired for the proposed kabrastan, the finding has thrown up a moot question – whether the Margao Municipal Council, the acquiring department or the land acquisition officer did not come across the existing compound wall, tar road with gates on both ends when the land acquisition process to acquire land for the kabrastan was initiated 14 years ago?

For, local residents claimed that the compound wall and the tarred road with gates on both ends have been existing on the ground much before the Margao Municipality had initiated the proposal before the land acquisition officer to acquire around 30,190 square metres of land to set up the proposed kabrastan.

In fact, the intervener in the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the High Court, Blaze Mota has contended that the St Joaquim Chapel cemetery has been existing at the site since two decades now. In fact, he claimed that the cemetery was inaugurated way back in April 1995, raising questions whether the MMC had proposed acquisition of the land for kabrastan at Sonsodo by acquiring the existing road used for the cemetery without acquiring separate parcel of land for a dedicated road access to the proposed kabrastan located just behind the Christian cemetery.

Margao Municipal officials remained tightlipped over the findings mentioned in the site inspection report. With the matter under the High Court scrutiny and the survey cum demarcation of the Sonsodo land was carried out under the Court’s directions, civic officials in private said it is now for the High Court to prepare the road map how to go about the road access to the land acquired for the proposed kabrastan. The inspection will be placed before the High Court at the next date of hearing scheduled on April 1.

Remarked a civic official: “The inspection report has pointed out there is an existing compound wall, tar road with gates on both ends encroached in the acquired land. It is a fact that the compound wall, tar road with gates on both ends are used by the St Joaquim cemetery. And, it is also a fact that the St Joaquim cemetery has been existing since the year 1995 and the Margao Municipality had acquired the land for kabrastan only in the year 2011.”

In the absence of a dedicated access to the acquired land for kabrastan, the consultant appointed by Goa State Urban Development Agency (GSPCB) had proposed a road on stilts from the main road to the acquired land at a cost of Rs 10 crore or in the alternative to build an elevator costing Rs 1.5 crore.

MMC passes the buck, blames land acquisition office over access issue

MARGAO: As the site inspection report on the survey and demarcation of the acquired land at Sonsodo has thrown up a question whether the Margao Municipal Council did not inspect the site before submitting the proposal for land acquisition, civic officials have sought to push the blame on the office of the land acquisition officer for the failure to take the ground reality into account before acquiring the land in question.

Even assuming that the MMC had failed to take the ground reality into account while acquiring the land at Sonsodo for the burial grounds, civic officials said nothing had prevented the land acquisition officer from inspecting the site in question before the acquisition. “Yes, even we are of the strong opinion that the civic body ought to have acquired land for a dedicated road access to the kabrastan at the time of land acquisition. Instead, the MMC has acquired the existing road used for the cemetery. But that does not absolve the land acquisition officer from the question why the office did not verify and check the ground reality before capping the acquisition,” the civic official remarked.