the goan I network
MARGAO
Margao’s iconic Municipal garden, right in the heart of the commercial capital, is craving for attention from the government and the local civic body.
In fact, going by the ground reality, the Municipal garden does not seem on the agenda of the powers that be and the City Fathers as they have paid only lip service to the cries of citizens, including senior citizens to restore the garden to its past glory.
TCP Minister Vijai Sardesai’s promise to spruce up the garden along with the historic Lohia Maidan and the Margao Municipal garden has also remained on paper. Otherwise, consider this. The southern portion of the sprawling garden continues to be used for dumping of scrap and confiscated items, turning the garden an eyesore. Scrap items lie scattered all around a water fountain, which has now remained defunct for years for want of maintenance.
The southern portion of the garden around the fountain has also acquired notoriety for anti-social elements, including drug peddling and prostitution. Sources in the know say that pimps have made the garden their permanent place to run their anti-social activities in the absence of any monitoring by the civic body or the men-in-uniform.
Sources in the police department suspects that the Margao Municipal garden has turned out a hotbed of drug traffickers. The recent police raids have only confirmed the extent of anti-social activities taking place inside the garden.
That the paint on the garden fence, including the dozens of benches, has faded, giving the place a bad look, has not spurred the City Fathers to give the garden a facelift with a fresh coat of paint. Questions are being raised in city’s recreational circles why the civic body has allowed the iconic garden to the current state of affairs, even as the town is bracing up to play host to the famous Diwali and Dindi festivals, which draws thousands of people to the commercial capital every year.
Sources say the gaping holes in the fencing around the garden also comes in handy for the anti-social activities to enter and exit the garden after the security shuts the garden gates late evenings.
The state of affairs inside the northern portion of the garden, which is known as the Aga Khan Park, is not anything better. Hundreds of children along with parents, who descend at the park during weekends and holidays are left with no amenities. Margao MLA Digambar Kamat had once announced plans to make the northern portion of the garden a Dada-Dadi, Nana-Nani park, but in vain.
Absence of full-time security and the men-in-uniform has only made matters worse for the citizens. The jogging track inside the garden’s northern portion is also craving for immediate attention.
When The Goan contacted Margao Municipal Chairperson Babita Prabhudesai to shed light on why the iconic garden is not on the agenda of the civic body, she agreed that the garden needs to be restored to its past glory. “I fully agree that the Municipal garden is craving for attention. We had plans to give the garden a facelift, but the plans did not take off. I will now take up the garden issue at the next Council meeting scheduled in early November,” Babita said, adding ‘before addressing the host of issues, I will at least take up the work of painting of the garden on priority’.
“I will look into the security aspects inside the garden. And, we will also request the police to send its personnel to keep the anti-social elements at bay,” she added.
