For a city that was aspiring to be a smart city, the politics surrounding the foundation stone for a multi-storey parking facility is disheartening, to say the least. The city is in desperate need of additional parking space and instead of building the facility, all that Margao has got is a foundation stone which was laid by Curtorim MLA Reginaldo Lourenco. Fisheries Minister Avertano Furtado, whose constituents use Margao as their main market, and Deputy Chief Minister Francis D'Souza did not turn up for the ceremony. A day earlier, former Fatorda MLA Damu Naik, who is gearing up to take on Vijai Sardessai in 2017, castigated the Margao Municipal Council chairperson Arthur D'Silva for hurrying up the ceremony in order to beat the code of conduct. It is presumed that after Naik's outburst, the Deputy Chief Minister and Fisheries Minister had no choice but to stay away.
What does Margao really gain from this political slug fest? It has already lost the race for smart city funds to Panaji, and instead of putting its affairs in order, the Council has fallen back on its old ways which neither brought it laurels nor praise. Like all other cities in the state, Margao also suffers from traffic congestion. Traffic police have time and again reminded political leaders that almost all parking spaces are filled by 10 am and more room will have to be created. The idea of having a multi-storey parking facility at the old fish market is probably a decade old. Funds came in the form of silver jubilee grants, but the facility never saw the light of day. The Rs 3 crore received by the municipality was stored in a fixed deposit and it has now grown to Rs 4.17 crore. A construction licence for the same was issued last September and now the cost of constructing the facility has risen to almost Rs 6 crore. The question is, where is the remaining Rs 2 crore going to come from?
What is on display in Margao is a fight between the MLA Digambar Kamat who still controls the municipality through D'Silva and the BJP which is hell bent on ending his grip on the commercial city. Or else what was the reason for Naik to interfere in areas outside his constituency? Also, the Deputy Chief Minister and Fisheries Minister are not beholden to Naik to stay away from the ceremony on his demand or request. There is a larger plan at work with the municipal elections as the battle ground.
It is said that when two elephants fight it is the grass that bears the brunt. In this case it is the people of Margao and surrounding villages who look on helplessly as the big guns slug it out. The blame for delay in constructing the facility which would cater to 112 cars and 42 two-wheelers lies at the door step of the municipality. Had it pushed harder Margao would have been on the way to owning a multi-storey parking facility. Instead the council was content to store the money in a fixed account which grew at a slower rate than the cost of construction.Foundations stones are a dime a dozen and the one erected at the old fish market means nothing if construction does not start. What is worrying is that the stone was laid even before the municipality finalised and floated a tender for the work. It's akin to putting the cart before the horse. Margao cannot hope to be a modern, model or smart city as long as it elects councillors who are willing to sacrifice service to the city on the altar of politics.
