MAPUSA
Maintaining that not all can be satisfied with the reservation, Mapusa MLA Joshua D’Souza on Friday said reservation of wards was done as per the law and those who were unhappy have the option to approach the court of law.
He also said work on the new bus-stand had nothing to do with the civic elections as it was supposed to be taken up almost a year back.
“We cannot satisfy everybody. In my case, I had given my recommendations and suggestions. But then, it has to fit as per the law. Whoever wants to challenge it is free to go to court,” D’Souza said.
The Mapusa MLA was speaking to the media while responding to a query whether he was happy with the reservation of wards in Mapusa.
D’Souza said everybody cannot be kept in good humour on the reservation of wards and some were bound to get affected.
“I don’t think anybody can be 100 per cent satisfied on the reservation. Even if I was given a free hand to do reservations the way I want, I don’t think I would be able to satisfy everyone. Of course, there is a law. There are ways to do it. There is a procedure,” he maintained.
Apart from the opposition, at least two BJP legislators, including a minister, have publicly criticised the reservation process followed by the government for the municipal election.
The Mapusa MLA further informed that work on the new bus-stand was supposed to start at least a year back but it got delayed due to the pandemic.
He said as soon as the freeze on expenditure amount on infra works was lifted in December last year, his office started moving the file to get the work done on priority.
“We cannot take up the project at one time because it is a very big project of around Rs 300 crore. With the current financial position, I don’t think it was possible to gather that kind of amount in a short time,” he said.
“We had proposed to take up the work of the bus-stand in a phased manner where we provide infrastructure to the current place so that we can move the current bus-stand out (to the new place) and then take up the multi-level parking and all the other projects,” he added.
He said the plan was to take up the work before the Zilla Panchayat election but it was held up and then came the lockdown and the Covid-19 restrictions.
