PANJIM: Art and Culture Minister Govind Gaude on Wednesday dropped the plan for setting up a Ravindra Bhavan in Dhargalim on the proposed Housing Board land citing poor access and lack of space.
Speaking to Herald, Gaude said, “We have rejected the proposal due to poor feasibility and have been in talks with the Sports Department for alternative land. The Sports Minister has agreed to give us land.”
He added, “The files have moved and we have completed two rounds of meetings. The Sports Department has agreed to hand over 30,000 sq metres of land for a Ravindra Bhavan while the earlier proposal was of 15,000 sq meters. We wanted a bigger are in view of parking facilities and landscaping.”
Gaude said the process of transferring land from the Sports Department to the Art and Culture Department would at least take another four to five months.
“Once the land is in our hands, RFQ will be floated, architect and consultant will be appointed. I will also be meeting Sports Minister Manohar (Babu) Azgaonkar in the coming days for a round of discussion before going ahead with the legal procedure,” he said.
