MARGAO
Accepting the challenge thrown up by the ruling party on the contentious kabrastan issue, Leader of Opposition and Margao MLA Digambar Kamat has said the BJP should explain to the Muslim community why the ruling party could not build a spacious kabrastan when he had acquired land for the burial grounds eight years ago.
The Opposition leader told The Goan on Sunday that he had acquired land admeasuring 30,000 square meters at Sonsodo in 2011 during his stint as the state Chief Minister. He said the land was not only acquired for the Margao municipality, but it was handed over to the managing committee of the Muslim body for developing the same for a kabrastan.
“An agreement was inked between the Margao Municipal Council and the Muslim body towards the end of 2011 wherein the panel was supposed to take up the work of developing the land for the proposed kabrastan,” he said.
In fact, Kamat sought to know why the BJP, which has been ruling the state since 2012 to date, has not developed the acquired land in question located at Sonsodo.
The Margao MLA’s comments came in less than a week when Rajya Sabha MP and BJP leader Vinay Tendulkar descended on the Pajifond kabrastan after being invited by members of the Muslim community.
Accompanied by Congress-turned-BJP leader Urfan Mulla and members of the Jamia Masjid, Margao, the Rajya Sabha MP had not only promised to sanction works such as compound wall and illumination of the existing kabrastan at Pajifond, but assured the community members that he would take up with Chief Minister Pramod Sawant to work out a permanent solution to the long-pending kabrastan issue.
The Margao MLA, however, pointed out that the BJP should explain to the Muslim community why the government could not develop the acquired land at Sonsodo for Kabrastan. “There’s already a cemetery existing near the acquired land. When I had taken up the issue of constructing a cemetery for the Catholic community of Aquem near the Rawanfond road over bridged, there were some protests against the move, but I had stood firm on grounds that every community needs a decent burial ground,” Kamat said.
He demanded to know why the ruling party and the government could not develop the acquired land for the burial grounds.
Incidentally, while land for the proposed kabrastan at Sonsodo was acquired in 2011, plan to set up the burial grounds for the Muslim community was shelved over a year ago, following protests from local residents of Borda and Fatorda, opposing the kabrastan near an existing cemetery.
In fact, Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai, during his stint as Town and Country Planning Minister, had mooted the kabrastan at Sirvodem in Margao constituency represented by MLA Digambar Kamat.
While the government headed by then Chief Minister late Manohar Parrikar had sanctioned funds to acquire land at Sirvodem for the proposed kabrastan, the SGPDA has not gone ahead with the proposal citing stiff objections from residents of Navelim and other neighbouring villagers, opposing the burial ground on the banks of river Sal, fearing water contamination.
