MARGAO
With the dust kicked up by the recently held Assembly elections finally settled down, the contentious issue of kabrastan for the city’s Muslim community has come back to haunt the powers that be.
With a change in political guard at the helm of the Town and Country Planning Department (TCP) and the South Goa Planning and Development Authority (SGPDA) post-election result, citizens who have launched an agitation in support of the burial grounds on the acquired land at Sonsodo are bracing up to up the ante in support of their demand.
In fact, Margao Municipal councillor Mahesh Amonkar, who had gone on a hunger strike in support of the kabrastan at the Sonsodo site told the media on Sunday along with Sheikh Riyaz that they will again call on Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and BJP State president Sadanand Tanavade to remind them of the promise that the government would change the zone of the Sonsodo land back to the burial grounds.
“When I had gone on a hunger strike in January last, the Chief Minister had assured that the government would change the zone of the Sonsodo land to kabrastan. The Chief Minister had even directed the Director of Municipal Administrator to make the necessary changes. Now that a new TCP Minister has assumed office and a new SGPDA chairman will take over the reigns of office, we hope and expect the government to change the Sonsodo zone back to kabrastan,” Amonkar said.
Saying that the proposal to shift the kabrastan from Sonsodo to Khareband-Sirvodem is not feasible since major chunk of the land proposed to be acquired falls in the jurisdiction of village panchayats, Amonkar said the government should not waste the Rs 16 crore on acquiring the land at Khareband-Sirvodem but instead use the money to develop the acquired land at Sonsodo for the intended purpose.
Sheikh Riyaz also echoed similar sentiments by saying the government should change the zone of the Sonsodo land back to kabrastan.
