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MARGAO
The old Margao Municipal building known as the Camara Municipal de Salsette located at the Old market continues to lie in ruins, with the present lot of City Fathers doing absolutely nothing during the five-year term to restore the heritage structure for posterity.
Hopes were raised in mid-2013, when heritage lovers came under the banner of 'Save Margao Heritage Movement' to save and restore the Camara Municipal de Salsette when the building showed signs of crumbling down during the monsoon. Inquiries with the Margao civic body, however, revealed that the ground reality remains unchanged. Margao Municipal Council's plan to acquire the building and land admeasuring 577.5 sq mts have failed to take off till date. If municipal officials in 2013 took the stand that the civic body has applied to the TCP for NOC to initiate proceedings to acquire the building, nothing tangible has been noticed on the municipal files till date. When 'The Goan' contacted the technical section to shed light on the status of the building acquisition, officials admitted the file is yet to reach the government for land acquisition.
Inquiries by 'The Goan' have revealed that the municipality has not pursued the matter with the Mamlatdar to obtain the sales statistics before a concrete proposal is dispatched to the government for consideration.
In fact, sources in the know said the present lot of councillors had never shown any enthusiasm towards the restoration of the old municipal building. Only once, the civic body had moved with alacrity to serve notices on the business establishment owners to vacate the premises during the monsoon, raising many an eyebrow amongst the citizenry and historians on the exact motive behind the exercise.
It was around six years ago on November 5, 2009 that the Margao Municipal Council had adopted a resolution (No 3772) to conserve the old Municipal building, on grounds that the building is of great heritage and historical importance.
The proposal had received a big boost two years ago when citizens joined hands with historians and architects under the banner of Save Margao Heritage Movement led by former MMC chairperson Savio Coutinho. Till date, however, the land acquisition proposal is still awaiting final touches from the Civic Babus and City Fathers for reasons best known to them.
Says Coutinho: "The MMC had passed a resolution when I was the Municipal Chairperson. It’s indeed sad that the land acquisition proposal has still not yet seen light of the day”.
He added, “Now since the current term of the Council has come to an end, the responsibility lies with the new councillors to take the proposal to its logical conclusion”.
Incidentally, the proposal to restore the old Municipal building had found favour with the two MLAs, Digambar Kamat and Vijai Sardesai, but the government too did not act with alacrity to save the historical structure from crumbling down.
"The Camara Municipal building is an important 18th century landmark in the city of Margao. The Municipality was requested by the Goa Heritage Action in 2009 to restore the heritage building to its former glory without effecting any changes to original heritage character."
"I believe the government should step in and save the heritage site after compensating the owner. The building can be re-adapted for heritage use. I do not think any other country would have allowed such a site with heritage and historical importance to crumble."
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Margao’s notorious 'Chor Bazaar' has resurfaced in a big way along the city’s old station road right under the nose of the police and municipal authorities.
When 'The Goan' team descended at the station road right at the break of dawn, the area was already bustling with activity “ right from the sale of second-hand garments, mixers, etc. The early morning Sunday bazaar saw a huge demand for cellphones as evident by the fact that both the young and the old huddled around persons displaying second-hand mobile sets for sale.
Surprisingly, while the vendors carried out brisk activity along the road, there was no sign of either municipal or police officials making their presence felt around the place. This is indeed surprising, given that the Chor Bazaar or the market of second-hand products had been on the scanner of the police and municipal authorities, as stolen goods, including cell phones, were finding its way into the bazaar. It’s not uncommon to find police personnel descending along the station after the commissioning of any burglary or theft with past experience, thus suggesting that goods are often offered for sale at the Chor Bazaar.
Residents of Malbhat locality, who have been demanding action against the illegal activities along the station road, told 'The Goan' that the Chor Bazaar activity starts before dawn when migrants make their presence felt in the area along with goods.
“The activity was nipped in the bud, but it has made its presence felt back again along the station road,” informed a resident, while demanding a total halt to the illegal activity.
“It is surprising that the police and municipal authorities have turned a blind eye to the activity when it is a known fact that stolen goods had in the past made its way along the station road,” he added.
