MARGAO
None other than Margao MLA Digambar Kamat should be elated over the CM’s budget speech on rehabilitation of the Moti Dongor, whose inhabitants had stood behind him like a rock in his political journey spanning around three-long decades.
Kamat, however, is not surprised over the slum rehabilitation plan unveiled by the Chief Minister. He told The Goan that the government had in principle agreed for the rehabilitation of the Moti Dongor around three months ago. “What the Chief Minister announced in the Assembly in his budget speech is just to make a budgetary head to start the rehabilitation plan. I had taken up the rehabilitation of Moti Dongor three months ago and the government had agreed for the rehabilitation of the slum dwellers”, Kamat said.
He added: “Moti Dongor is a notified slum. It was notified by former bureaucrat Rakesh Sinha in the 80’s and since then was regarded as a notified slum”.
Kamat was clear in saying that the government has decided to rehabilitate the residents of Moti Dongor at the same place.
“Since the area in question belongs to the Comunidade, the government would acquire the same. The Comunidade will receive the compensation in lieu of the land acquired for the rehabilitation”, he said.
Moti Dongor has been a dedicated vote bank of Kamat, having rallied behind the seven-time Margao MLA in every election, irrespective of the party banner he contested the polls.
After Kamat embraced the Congress after quitting the BJP, Moti Dongor had come to the rescue of the Margao MLA in the keenly contested 2005 bye-poll. Since then, the migrant-inhabited area had come in the way of the saffron brigade’s repeated attempts to make inroads at the hillock, giving unassailable leads for the seven-time Margao MLA.
