THE GOAN NETWORK
MAPUSA
The Mapusa Municipal Council (MMC) on Wednesday approved the proposal to redevelop the KTC bus stand on Public Private Partnership (PPP) basis by 10-6 votes.
This decision was taken at a meeting of the council chaired by MMC Chairperson Priya Mishal, with Chief Officer Chandrakant Shetkar and most other corporators present. MMC Vice-Chairperson Prakash Bhivashet and Councillor Shubhangi Wayangankar were absent.
The meeting discussed and passed a resolution on the proposal received from the Directorate of Transport seeking permission to use the municipal land of the Mapusa KTC bus stand for the redevelopment of the bus terminal.
The proposal was strongly objected by the opposition councillors Adv. Shashank Narvekar, Kamal D'Souza, Dr Tarak Arolkar, Sudhir Kandolkar, Anand Bhaidkar and Kayle Braganza.
They claimed there is no proper information or any plan about the project is going to come up at the site.
Fearing that malls may be set up in future and adversely affect the Mapusa market and the business of traders, the opposition councillors demanded that temporary permission should not be given until a plan or concrete outline is available.
The mayor then took a vote on the proposal and the resolution was passed by 10-6 votes, with Councillor Anvi Korgaonkar abstaining from the vote.
The council was also informed that an additional expenditure of Rs 47.48 lakh is expected for the commercial project to be built in place of the old Mamlatdar office building. It was decided to use this expenditure from the 15th Finance Commission of the municipal council.
A proposal to allow the voluntary retirement of a junior clerk and junior stenographer was postponed after discussion. Corporators Adv. Tarak Arolkar and Adv. Shashank Narvekar suggested that a further decision should be taken after seeking legal advice in this regard.
WHO OWNS THE LAND
An unusual situation has arisen over the ownership of land at the KTC bus stand in Mapusa
According to sources, the cabinet during the tenure of then chief minister Pratap Singh Rane in 1982-83, had decided to allot the land to the transport department for the KTC bus stand.
After that, the MMC had completed all legal formalities and approved the transfer of land to the transport department.
As per the government's instructions, the MMC had executed a sale deed with the transport department. Later, the transport department built a bus stand at the site through the Kadamba Transport Corporation (KTC).
But since the mutation of this land was not done by the transport department, the MMC continues to remain as the owner in the land records, even though the land is in possession of the transport department.
The transport department has sought permission from the MMC as the land owner for the redevelopment project of the KTC bus stand on PPP basis.
