MARGAO
The ambitious parking plaza project on the Margao Municipal land at Old Market, which had kicked a row of sorts last month after citizens laid the foundation stone for the project led by Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai, is back in the news.
Saturday saw the Margao Municipal Council directing the Goa State Urban Development Agency (GSUDA)-appointed contractor to stop work at the site till further orders. A Margao Municipal engineer told The Goan that since Saturday being a holiday, a Municipal supervisor was drafted to communicate to the contractor to stop the work with immediate effect.
The Goan understands that the ruling Margao Municipal is believed to have taken the plea that the work on the parking project has started at the site without the civic body handing possession of the Municipality-acquired land to the GSUDA or the contractor to execute the job.
In fact, MMC engineers in private admitted that while the contractor has received the work order from GSUDA, the civic body has till date not handed over the possession of the acquired land to the contractor.
When The Goan contacted Margao MLA Digambar Kamat to shed light on the MMC decision to stop work on the parking project, he said the MMC must have done so since the civic body wanted to demarcate the land in question in order to assess and evaluate the sopo revenue collection. Kamat further said GSUDA should have kept the MMC in the loop before starting work on the site. “The MMC earns huge revenue by way of sopo fees from the parking land during the feast fairs. Since the land in question is now proposed to be developed for parking, the MMC wanted to demarcate the land to assess the sopo revenue loss,” Kamat added.
A senior GSUDA official when contacted by The Goan two days ago to shed light on the stand adopted by the MMC that the acquired land has still not been handed over to the agency till date, the official shot back saying handing over possession of the acquired land was just a mere formality since the MMC has already cleared all the formalities and permissions for the project.
A visit to the parking project site revealed that the contractor has erected tin sheets all round the property boundary to start the work. A tent has been erected on the land, while a motor and metal was found dumped on the ground.
After the contractor, who is presently out of station, was intimated of the MMC’s decision to stop work on the project by his field staff on Saturday, he is believed to have called on GSUDA officials to find out the ground reality.
The Goa Forward was quick to slam the MMC decision. Party spokesperson Durgadas Kamat said the MMC decision is nothing but dirty politics being played by the BJP to stop developmental works in Fatorda.
The Goa Forward chief Vijai Sardesai along with party councillors and citizens had laid the foundation stone for the parking project on March 6 last on the plea the GSUDA had cancelled the proposed foundation stone laying function reportedly on the ground that the Congress-turned-Margao MLA Digambar Kamat was out of the country.
Since then, The Goan understands that GSUDA was told by the government to execute the job of the parking plaza project without waiting for the official foundation stone laying programme.
