MAPUSA
The plan to set up the Ravindra Bhavan in Cunchelim, Mapusa is getting tossed around between the local comunidade and the Department of Art and Culture.
While Mapusa MLA Joshua D’Souza and the Cunchelim comunidade have been maintaining that they are awaiting a “request letter” from the government, the Art and Culture Department says there is no such plan and the comunidade has to send the proposal to them.
After the plan to construct the project opposite the Bodgeshwar Temple hit a legal roadblock, the local MLA had decided to shift the project to a new site in Cunchelim.
Art and Culture Minister Govind Gaude who along with Mapusa MLA inspected the site four months ago found the place ideal to set up the project.
Gaude had then requested the Comunidade to pass a resolution in favour of the project and submit the plans and other relevant details to his department so that work on the project can be taken up in quick time.
“It shouldn’t be seen as we are delaying the project. The Art and Culture Department was supposed to send a request letter which we could place in the general body meeting to get the resolution passed,” said Michael Carrasco, Attorney of Cunchelim comunidade.
Toeing the same line, the Mapusa MLA stated that the Comunidade was awaiting a nod from the art and culture department.
Director of the Department of Art and Culture Sagun Velip said that a proposal of setting up of Ravindra Bhavan was there with the planning authority.
He said the planning authority was supposed to identify and demarcate the land and send it to them.
“If the Cunchelim comunidade wants to hand over their land to us they can write to us. They can take a resolution and forward it to the department. If we get the proposal we will initiate it immediately,” Velip said.
The Comunidade had in principle agreed to part away around 25,000 sq metre of land for the project near the Sai Baba Temple in Cunchelim.
Initially, the plan was to construct the Ravindra Bhavan on a sprawling site opposite to the Bodgeshwar Temple on an area of around 40,000 sq mts.
The Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation (GSIDC) was tasked with the job of preparing a detailed project report for the project.
But the plan had to be shelved after some farmers refused to part away with their tenanted land and took the matter to courts.
