TEAM HERALD
MARGAO: Former Chief Minister and Margao MLA Digambar Kamat came under sustained attack at a meeting held at Aquem on Sunday to save the Costa ground from turning into a concrete jungle. The Aquem Ground Bachao Association meeting demanded cancellation of all constructions licenses issued for a housing project and take steps to complete the land acquisition process without delay.
The association demanded that the Margao Municipal Chief Officer Deepali Naik and Chairperson Arthur D’Silva adhere to the needs of the people of Aquem and cancel the construction licenses issued against their wishes. The association further adopted a resolution urging that the government restrain all commercial activities on Costa ground.
Kamat, who spoke at the meeting, expressed his support to the movement against the conversion of Costa ground, promising to raise the issue in the Assembly sessions to save the ground. He again returned to the dais after the association’s general secretary Andrew Sequeira maintained that Kamat had done nothing to save the ground during his tenure. Put on the defensive, Kamat reminded the gathering that government can acquire land only when a proposal comes from the civic body. As he demanded to know whether the Margao civic body has till date submitted any proposal for the land acquisition, he
was reminded from the audience that though he was all along controlling the civic body, the acquisition file never moved during his tenure..
In his speech, BJP Margao unit President Chandan Nayak came down heavily on Kamat, accusing him of concretizing the Aquem area. Recalling that Kamat was responsible for cancelling a multi-storey project at Ana Fonte in 1994, Nayak demanded to know why the Margao MLA did not adopt the same stand vis-a-vis Costa ground. He also sought to know why Kamat did not get the Costa ground zone changed from settlement to recreation during his long association with the planning and development authority (PDA).
In his address, BJP leader Naveen Raikar demanded that the government order an inquiry to probe into the construction projects passed in Aquem area during Kamat’s tenure, suspecting that the Margao legislator is a partner in these projects. “Costa ground housing project is a multi crore scam similar to the mining scam. Government should probe into the issue”, he said.
Margao municipal councillor Damodar Shirodkar demanded to know why Kamat during his tenure as chief minister did not put up a note for the acquisition of Costa ground, while Andrew Sequeira asserted that Kamat paid only lip service to the issue.
Prof Joan Rebello, Advocate Jawahar Dias, Joseph Vaz, MMC councillor Avinash Shirodkar, Damodar Korgaonkar, Sharmad Raiturcar, Ashween Fernandes and others also spoke.
