Muslim body seeks course correction in ODP, insists on land at Sonsodo for burial ground
MARGAO
Reopening of the Margao Outline Development Plan (ODP) for objections and suggestions has revived the decades-old burning issue of kabrastan for the city’s growing Muslim community in Margao and Fatorda.
On a backburner for some time now, the kabrastan issue is right back on the centrestage and may rattle politicians from Margao and Fatorda ahead of the 2022 Assembly polls. Reason. The South Goa Planning and Development Authority (SGPDA) has kept open the draft-Margao ODP 2031 for suggestions and objections and the Muslim community under the banner of Sunni Jamatul Muslameen, Jamia Masjid, Malbhat, has sought a course correction in the ODP by insisting that the acquired land at Sonsodo is utilised for its intended objective of housing a burial ground.
In fact, the Jamia Masjid has objected to the proposal mooted in the ODP 2028 to set up a sub-station, besides low cost housing project on the kabrastan land acquired at Sonsodo admeasuring 30,191 square metres.
The Jamia Masjid has already informed the SGPDA on its opposition to the inclusion of a sub-station and low cost housing projects in the acquired land. The panel has also knocked the doors of the Margao Municipality to lodge its objection to the changes made in the ODP since the land in question at Sonsodo was acquired by the Margao Municipality around a decade ago for a kabrastan.
In his petition to the Margao Municipality, Jamia Masjid general secretary Imran Khan pointed out that the inclusion of the proposal to set up a sub-station and low cost housing projects on the acquired land at Sonsodo for kabrastan by the MMC is patently illegal as the SGPDA cannot change the zone and mark projects on the land, specifically acquired for the purpose of the burial (kabrastan) ground for the Muslim community at Sonsodo.
He added: “The Jamia Masjid is shocked that the land which is acquired for the burial ground for the Muslim community at Sonsodo by the Margao Municipality has been shown as orchard and for a sub-station and low cost housing. We fail to understand on what basis the SGPDA has shown in the draft ODP that acquired land for other purpose without any consultation with the stakeholders Jamat and the MMC.”
The Sonsodo land was acquired by the Margao Municipal Council, opposite the Sonsodo garbage dump and near the Church cemetery around a decade ago. The burial ground project, however, ran aground around 2018-19 following stiff opposition from local residents of Borda and nearby areas to the setting up of the kabrastan near the Church cemetery.
Will MMC accede to demand of Muslim body, re-notify land?
MARGAO: Will the Margao Civic Alliance-backed Margao Municipal Council controlled local MLAs, Digambar Kamat and Vijai Sardesai accede to the demand of the Muslim body and re-notify the Sonsodo land for the kabrastan?
It seems unlikely for the moment, with Margao Municipal Chairperson Lyndon Pereira saying the Council had already resolved in the past to shift the burial grounds from Sonsodo to the alternate land at Sirvodem-Margao on land admeasuring 15,165 sq metres, partly coming under the Margao Municipality and in the adjoining village of Navelim.
The MMC chairperson said the burial ground public utility proposal has also been marked in the ODP 2028 at Sirvodem.
Saying that the proposal at Sonsodo is located very close to the garbage dump and the cemetery and has been objected by the locals, Lyndon has made it clear the Council will stand by its decision taken during the previous term to already marked in the ODP 2028 to pursue the project at the land identified at Sirvodem.
