PANJIM: The Rs 72 crore Miramar Dona Paula concrete road issue has reached the courts with a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) that was filed coming up for hearing tomorrow. The complainant social activist lawyer Aires Rodrigues has alleged that the government by constructing Rs 1.3 crore road and then breaking it up to rebuild it as a concrete road was a squandering of public funds.
The Council headed by Surendra Furtado and Kabir Pinto Makhija has been saying that they have not been informed about any of the works and they are not aware of anything. According to councillors they do not even have a copy of the master plan.
A controversy had arisen even when the consultants were finalized with Mayor Surendra Furtado alleging that around 90 per cent of the master plan was copied from the CCP’s Rs 1,000 crore detailed plan report (DPR) and comprehensive mobility plan.
In a note by the office of the Mayor, the Mayor Surendra Furtado has very clearly said – referring to the No Objection Certificate issued by the Commissioner, Sanjith Rodrigues – that the “commissioner is merely an executive officer of the Corporation and cannot substitute the Corporation and its elected members for the decision making and policy making matters for the development of the city in an autocratic manner.”
“The decisions on matters such as the concretization of city roads is a policy decision which only the Corporation is empowered to take,” says Furtado.
The petition had pointed out that the Miramar to Dona Paula road was hot mixed in January this year, at the cost of Rs 1.3 crore after a sewage line right was laid out the middle of the road lane. And the same road is now being again dug up again and concretized at a cost of Rs 66 crore. He also argued that any damage or repair of the sewage line will require fresh digging up of the concrete road if laid.
Though the aim is good and beautification was long overdue this work has already stirred up controversy.
The Mayor Surendra Furtado had denied that any proposal was forwarded from the Corporation of the City of Panjim to the government for doing up the road, arguing (at that time) “There is so much more this kind of money could have been spent on, beautification of Panjim, developing the areas of Boca da Vaca and other such projects. It is a complete waste of money.”
Road to nowhere
– CCP doesn’t have copy of master plan
– Concretization of city roads is a policy decision which only CCP can take
– Road was hot mixed this year at Rs 1.3 crore, same road dug and being built for Rs 66 crore
