MARGAO
With the contentious issue of kabrastan taking centre stage after the SGPDA filed an affidavit in the High Court that burial grounds can come up in a settlement zone, indicating the burial grounds can be built on the land acquired at Sonsodo, its echo could be felt in the Margao Municipal Council as well.
This became evident after a group of Margao Municipal councillors, cutting across party lines, are on the job, collecting signatures from the City Fathers, to demand the convening of a special meeting of the Council to discuss the entire gamut of issues concerning kabrastan when the civic body had resolved not to go for the burial grounds at Sonsodo.
Taking the initiative to demand a special meeting of the Council is BJP-backed councillor Camilo Barretto, representing the Borda area of the Council. He is believed to have collected the signatures of around eight councillors, including a couple of councillors aligned to the Goa Forward party to date.
Camilo told The Goan that he would submit the signed application to the Margao Municipality on Monday calling for a special meeting to discuss the kabrastan issue. “The Council had adopted a resolution at the last meeting that the karbastan should not come on the Sonsodo land. Despite the Council stand, we are told the SGPDA has filed an affidavit in the High Court saying the burial grounds are permitted in a residential area. This is not acceptable to us. We have collected around eight signatures to call for a special meeting of the Council,” Camilo added.
How the BJP leaders, including Congress-turned-BJP Margao MLA Digambar Kamat manages the emerging development over kabrastan remains to be seen. In the past, when he was part of the Congress, Kamat had all along maintained that since the matter over the kabrastan is pending before the High Court, all the parties should wait for the court to decide on the matter.
The BJP leadership must be also wary of the fact that some of the party-backed councillors are strongly opposed to the setting up of the kabrastan at Sonsodo, a stand similar to that adopted by the rival Goa Forward party.
With a couple of BJP and Goa Forward initiating a move to requisition a special meeting of the Council, questions are being raised in political circles whether the sensitive kabrastan issue will in any way lead to a realignment of forces in the Council, more so when the councillors are expected to vote and elect a new Municipal chairperson in the next 10 days.
It’s an open secret that a couple of BJP-backed councillors, including councillor Mahesh Amonkar, representing the Khareband ward, have been openly demanding setting up of the kabrastan at the acquired land at Sonsodo. Amonkar had in the past vehemently opposed the shifting of the kabrastan from Sonsodo to Khareband-Sirvodem area.
Will BJP-backed councillors adopt a stand contrary to acquired land at Sonsodo?
MARGAO: The Margao Municipality had acquired the Sonsodo land over a decade ago when Digambar Kamat was the State’s Chief Minister during the Congress regime. Kamat was a witness when the Margao Municipal Council inked an agreement with the representatives of the Jama Masjid in 2011.
In the changing political scenario after the Margao MLA returned to the BJP fold, will the BJP-backed group in the Council adopt a stand contrary to the objective with which the Sonsodo land was acquired by the civic body when Kamat was the State’s Chief Minister?
