Who is to blame for delay in opening Lohia Maidan?

Well, pose this question to GSUDA officials and do not be surprised to hear that the agency had already dashed off a letter to the Margao Municipal Council around mid-March last, handing over the Lohia Maidan to the civic body.

The MMC, which looks after the maintenance of the Maidan, on the other hand, concedes having received a letter from GSUDA. Civic officials, however, hastened to add that the MMC has not taken possession of the Lohia Maidan for want of verification of the works executed by GSUDA at the historic maidan.

A senior GSUDA official told The Goan on Monday that the Lohia Maidan had been handed over to the MMC around mid-March before the scheduled programme.

“GSUDA had written a letter to the MMC to hand over the Lohia Maidan to the civic body. From the side of GSUDA, the Lohia Maidan is already handed over to the Margao municipality,” the GSUDA official informed.

Margao Municipal Chief Officer Manuel Barretto, however, informed that the civic body has taken possession of the Lohia Maidan for the simple reason that the technical officers are yet to verify the works executed by GSUDA at the historic place.

“Our engineers need to first verify whether the GSUDA-appointed contactor has executed the job as per the specifications. We want to doubly confirm that all the works are executed by the GSUDA before the MMC takes possession of the Maidan,” he said.

Sources in the know pointed out the MMC is believed to have asked for additional works such as displaying the poems of freedom fighters at the Lohia Maidan, besides adding greenery at the place.

GSUDA officials, however, are believed to have maintained that these works suggested by the civic body do not fall in the scope of the job executed at the historic place.

A joint inspection of the Lohia Maidan by officials of GSUDA and the MMC is expected soon, sources said, adding that things will be clear after the inspection.