To the rest of Goa, Fatorda is famous for the stadium former Sports minister Francisco Monte Cruz built in a record six months and always remembered for the international cricket matches, home to Salgaocar, Sporting, Dempo, Churchill football teams and now, FC Goa. But Fatorda goes beyond that.
It is home to Margao’s SGPDA market, the wholesale fish market, the KTC Depot which is a hub for South Goa, home to traditional sausage making communities and a home to the Gawda and Kunbi residents. It is also cosmopolitan and boasts of a number of bungalows and buildings and gated communities.
Peter Fernandes of ward number 05, which extends from Durga Petrol Pump at the Arlem Junction into Chandrawaddo, points out that the recent sewerage works in his ward has left the storm water drains damaged and the ward is shabby with over grown weeds and wild tress.
“I have a huge ST population in the ward that doesn’t have sewerage connections. I need to streamline that and put it in order and encourage them to avail of the sewerage scheme and connect their toilets and soak pits. That will bring a great deal of sanitation in my ward,” says Fernandes.
Similarly, heavy machinery contractor turned councilor Terence Barbosa asserts that his biggest worry is garbage and he is trying to assist the existing door-to-door collection.Terence whose ward covers a large part of Chadrawaddo pointed out, “I want to get more hands involved in garbage collection in my ward and then I will take it from there. I want to increase the number of women carrying out garbage collection and I am open to the idea of pressing my cranes or vehicles in the collection drive but I want to see my ward garbage free in three months and will toil towards that,” explained Barbosa.
Similarly, Lyndon Pereira of Dongorwaddo and Gonvliwaddo that has a large ST population wants to eliminate the garbage menace on priority. “Once garbage is eliminated and the system is in place for proper disposal and collection, automatically, the menace of stray dogs will decrease and both those are my concerns in this ward, which made me plunge into the municipal elections,” stated Pereira.
While Zita Crasto admits that garbage is her worry, she is worried about the traditional workers in her ward. She wants to look into the interest of the sausage vendors in Ambaji and Virabhat and hopes to have a separate market for them while she wants the ward to have good quality gutters and a good sewerage disposal system with the gutters and sewerage disposal being two separate disposal systems.
“I have a lot of people who are market vendors and depend on the daily buying and selling of meats and vegetables. I have to look into their interest and their livelihood in my ward,” explains Crasto.
While young and energetic Clara Fernandes who won from the controversial Maddel and Mungul region asserts that a lot of projects were tendered in the tenure of the previous council but not implemented.
“For some reason the small infrastructure projects tendered in the last council are still pending. These include small road works, building and repairs of drains, nullahs and culverts and all this is yet to be done. I will ensure these are implemented,” she explains and shows that she is designing a systematic process for garbage collection which she feels will make her ward garbage free.
