MARGAO
There’s good news in store for heritage lovers longing to see the restoration of the Camara de Salcete building and the conservation of the heritage houses at Margao’s Old Market.
The Conservation Committee has not only bestowed heritage site status on the Camara de Salcete building, but has cleared a proposal to develop streetscapes at the Old Market, wherein authorities will take up paintings of the facades of heritage buildings lining the road.
Town and Country Planning Minister, Vijai Sardesai, who attended the Conservation Committee meeting informed a proposal has been cleared to bestow heritage status on the Camara de Salcete building. “With this decision, no development will come up at the site other than conservation of the crumbling building to its pristine glory,” the TCP Minister said.
Explaining the concept of streetscapes at the Old Market, the TCP Minister said the project envisages paintings of the facades of all the heritage structures lining the Old Market road. “The Conservation Committee has taken the decision to implement the concept of streetscapes at the Old Market. The project will be implemented in due course of time,” he added.
The TCP Minster had recently appealed to the land owners of the Camara de Salcete building to sell the land to the government for the restoration of the heritage building, even warning of bestowing heritage status on the building and freezing development on the land.
“The government is ready to buy the crumbing structure only with the avowed objective of restoring it to its past glory. The municipality has earmarked Rs five crore for the acquisition of the structure and the land to take the conservation project to its logical conclusion,” he said.
The first time the Margao Municipal Council had resolved to acquire the Camara de Salcete building was way back in 2010 during the tenure of former Chairperson Savio Coutinho.
The proposal, however, never took off due to the nitty gritties of land acquisition and the paucity of funds to acquire the structure.
Around three years ago, history lovers led by historian Prajal Sakhardande had made a forceful plea to MMC as well as the government to take up the project to conserve and protect the structure which was once the headquarters of the entire Salcete taluka.
