MARGAO
Town and Country Planning Minister Vijai Sardesai on Saturday has mooted empowering the local civic bodies on the lines of the Public Health Act to provide sewerage connections to households by overcoming land disputes.
Speaking at the inauguration of the recreation park funded by the We for Fatorda near the Durga petrol pump at Chandrawado, the TCP Minister said that huge government investment on sewerage infrastructure and subsidized connections will go waste if households cannot take the connections because of land disputes. “I think the government or the local civic body should seriously consider coming out with a law to provide sewerage connections to households when the same is being denied because of a land dispute,” Sardesai said.
The TCP Minister also favoured an amendment wherein open spaces automatically come to the local bodies. “Presently, an open space will come in possession of the civic body only when it is gifted to the body. I think the law ought to be amended to protect the open spaces from being encroached by unscrupulous elements,” he said.
Underlining the need to beautify open spaces for the purpose of recreation for senior citizens and children, the TCP Minister hoped that the local municipality will take the lead in the current term to do so. “This recreation park at Gulab Bagh has been funded by We for Fatorda. I feel that the municipality should take up development of the remaining open spaces with GSUDA funding or through Corporate Social responsibility,” he added.
