“We are working on an amicable solution. We cannot just ask the military to vacate the area. We have to ensure that the decision helps and keeps happy both – the military and the government,” BJP Panjim MLA Siddhart Kuncolienkar told media persons on Saturday.
“It’s only because of our military that today we can feel safe and sleep in peace in our homes; we need to take care of them,” he stated.
Kuncolienkar, vice chairman of Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation (GSIDC), said that the Military commander has forwarded a proposal to him, seeking an amicable solution in the form of granting them relaxation on rights of roads adjacent to the 2STC. “They are ready to hand over the land to government, but want relaxation in case of certain portion of land,” he said.
The MLA said that the proposal is being moved to the Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP), to which the land actually belongs, to pass a council resolution on the matter. “The same will be then forwarded to the government,” he said adding, that the “Government is working on the proposal for utilizing the space once occupied.”
The CCP is of the view that the land be used for developing a multi-storey four-wheeler parking facility. Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has assured to give back the land to CCP, provided the government moved such a proposal.
The CCP has been fighting to take over the land admeasuring 4,969 sq mts for a multi-storey car parking in a bid to decongest the city. The first resolution to take back the land was passed in 2004 by then BJP Mayor Ashok Naik.
The proposal received some momentum when former Panjim Mayor Surendra Furtado got a fresh resolution passed and placed it before the government and the Union Defence Minister in 2013 and in December 2014.
