Karsten Miranda
Margao: A few months ago, Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar during his visits to Margao spoke about one of the major ways of de-congesting Margao traffic was by shifting the schools out of the city.
Parsekar was speaking at a function held at a school and gave the example of the school complex in Cujira and how besides Margao, a school complex would be set up in Mapusa and Ponda as well
Only proposals, but the problem hasn’t shifted
Parsekar’s statements is an oft repeated one by bureaucrats and former chief ministers and over the last decade, there have been proposals to shift the old bus stand, petrol pumps, hospital, schools and the collectorate building.
So far, only the collectorate building has shifted to Fatorda but even then the problems affecting Margao’s traffic remain the same. Traffic police feel that the construction of the western bypass that has been recently tendered by the PWD is the only real solution as this will bring down the amount of traffic visiting Margao by half.
In November 2012, then South Goa collector, N D Agarwal, in a meeting convened by him with petroleum companies, had granted them two weeks’ time to submit their plans for relocation of the fuel outlets located within Margao to the outskirts of the city. While there has been little progress on that front, the district administration has time and time again sent orders for the buses not to park at the old bus stand but these remain in force only temporarily.
The parking of buses outside the communidade building in Margao opposite the municipal garden still causes a bottleneck before the junction that proceeds to the Navelim flyover.
On the district hospital, the Health Minister Francis D’Souza has given a deadline of December 2016 but critics have questioned why there has not been work done on the under construction building in Fatorda for the last three and half years.
Among Margao’s schools, only Presentation Convent High School has moved to its own premises near the under construction district hospital building.
Regarding the school complex, Director of Education G P Bhat has said that Davorlim has been tentatively fixed for the same and that the South Goa collector has already identified land in Davorlim for the school complex for Margao institutions. Mr Bhat added that the as per the information he received from the South Goa collector, land at Davorlim is already in possession with the government where the school complex can be set up. The area that has been identified is around 1 lakh square meter and the education director expects the process of establishing the complex for Margao institutions will begin in a year’s time. Only after the government finalises the location, will the education department invite applications from city-based schools who would like to shift to the complex.
While it is not known how the Margao-based schools will react to the proposal to shift once the plan materialises, it also remains to be seen how the Davorlim locals react to the same as they are already facing issues with the government as they had proposed to build a garbage treatment plant for their village which was recently objected to by the district administration.
Margao locals have said that 25 years ago the bus stand was shifted from opposite the Margao police station to the KTC bus stand to decongest traffic but the problems persist. They feel that better regulation of traffic, making sure the areas demarcated for parking are not encroached and the immediate construction of pay parking facilities can help bring a solution to the Margao traffic instead of banking on plans that envisage shifting of institutions that have no proper deadline and are plagued with problems of their own.
