Urges CM to pursue matter of vacating army with Jaitley n While allotting the extra land at Bambolim to the Defence forces there was a pre-condition that the land occupied by the Army at Panjim over be handed over to the then Panjim Municipal Council
TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: The Corporation of the City of Panaji Mayor Surendra Furtado has said that with the change of guard at the Centre, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar should pursue the matter of the army vacating the Panjim Municipal Market area with Union Defence Minister Arun Jaitley.
“There is no reply to my previous letter to the chief minister. With the formation of new government at the Centre, CM should have immediately informed the Union Defence Minister Arun Jaitley about the matter,” Surendra Furtado, Mayor CCP said, adding, “The ball is in his (CM) court. I will send a reminder letter to CM and a communiqué to the defence minister.”
The CCP had on July 31, 2013 unanimously resolved that the space presently occupied by the army near the municipal market be returned to the Corporation. The meeting had passed an unanimous resolution to make a request to the Defence Ministry to return the land to it so that it can be utilized for multi-level car parking.
According to the CCP, the Goa government while allotting the extra land at Bambolim to the Defence forces during the tenure of Pratapsing Rane as Chief Minister had made it a pre-condition that the land occupied by the Army at Panjim would be vacated and handed over to the then Panjim Municipal Council, the original owners of this land.
The military has been given a huge expanse of land at Bambolim.
“I am to submit that prior to Liberation of Goa the land in the heart of this city and described below was in the possession and ownership of the erstwhile Camara Municipal de Goa which was converted to Panjim Municipal Council and now known as Corporation of the City of Panaji, says the letter from the mayor Surendra Furtado, adding “However, after Liberation this land is now in the possession of 2 Signal Training Centre adjacent to their Panjim Headquarters which is underutilized for parking of military vehicles which are very few in number.”
