MARGAO
Can the heritage and historical landmarks doting around Margao and craving for attention, look forward for the much-needed face lift along with the religious and historical monuments, proposed for restoration and conservation by the State government?
Welcome to Margao, where one comes across right at the city’s entrance, the Camara Municipal de Salcete (Municipal Council of Salcete) building in ruins. The building was once the seat of Municipal administration before the civic body was shifted to the present building over a century ago.
In fact, it’s now little over a decade since the Margao Municipal Council had proposed to save the historical monument for posterity, but in vain. Promises by the local politicians to conserve the historical building has not changed the ground reality till date.
Historians led by Prajal Sakhardande along with local conservationists had been knocking the doors of the government as well as the Margao Municipal body to save the heritage building over the years, but the proposal lay grounded for reasons best known to the City Fathers, Municipal Babus and the powers that be.
The proposal to conserve the heritage building was first mooted during the tenure of then Margao Municipal Chairperson Savio Coutinho around 2009. Sadly, repeated attempts to acquire the building in question have not taken the process to its logical conclusion.
Incidentally, when local Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai presided over the Town and Country Planning affairs between 2017-19, a proposal was mooted by the State Conservation Committee to conserve the Camara de Salcete building. The ground reality, however, remains unchanged.
The then TCP Minister had roped in an expert to assess the condition of the building in ruins before the government takes the next step in conserving the structure, but why work on the conservation project could not see the light of day remains a mystery.
Remarked a conservationist: “If the land and ownership issues had come in the way of acquiring the heritage building, the government should have initiated the dialogue with the owners to resolve the issues. You cannot allow a heritage building to crumble down because of ownership issues.”
