MARGAO
Muslim community leaders, along with former Margao Municipal Council (MMC) chairperson Savio Coutinho, have called on Chief Minister Pramod Sawant to fulfil the Muslim community’s long-pending dream of having a kabrastan (Muslim burial ground).
At a media briefing in Margao attended by Savio Coutinho, Mohamad Khan, Iftiyaz Shaik, Aziz Shah, Anwar Naroo, Khadar Shah, Nizam Jamal Shaik and Tanzeem Sayed, senior community leader Matin Carol spoke about his decades-long struggle to secure the burial ground, a goal that remains unfulfilled.
Carol said the community felt it was being taken for a ride with mere promises, with no serious efforts being made to provide the much-needed kabrastan.
He pointed out that although the government had acquired 30,000 sq m of land for the burial ground, only around 2,500 sq m could be used under TCP rules because of the gradient of the acquired land.
“This 2,500 sq m of land is not sufficient to provide even 40 graves,” he said. On average, 30 burials take place every month, he added.
Khadar Shah said that although the burial ground was referred to as the “Margao Kabrastan”, it was intended to serve the entire Salcete region. He lamented that the tendering process had not been initiated and said that, in its absence, completion of the project would remain a distant dream.
Former MMC chairperson Savio Coutinho said that, on paper, the Muslim community appeared to have been allotted 30,000 sq m of land, but in reality, only 2,500 sq m could be developed because of TCP rules.
Coutinho said that on October 12, 2022, the High Court had set a six-month deadline for completing the burial ground. The Advocate General had also confirmed that six months would be sufficient to complete the work. However, nearly four years after the court’s order, no progress had been made, he said.
Displaying a photograph dated October 22, 2022, showing Muslim community members led by Urfan Mulla felicitating Chief Minister Pramod Sawant with a large garland, Coutinho said the community had repeatedly tried to please leaders in power in the hope that the kabrastan issue would finally be resolved, but to no avail.
“The Chief Minister is likely to visit Margao on October 26 for the foundation-stone-laying ceremonies of various projects. Since all three department heads connected with the kabrastan issue — Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, TCP Minister Vishwajit Rane and PWD Minister Digambar Kamat — will be together in Margao, we expect an announcement on the date for commencement of work on the kabrastan,” Coutinho said.
Calling for special relaxation of TCP rules to facilitate construction of the burial ground, Coutinho said the project did not involve high-rise buildings. He added that granting the requested relaxation could help resolve the decades-old issue once and for all.
