Team Herald
PONDA: Minister Ravi Naik urged the Defence Ministry and Commanding Officer of the military training camp at Ponda to handover 5,500 sq mtrs of land which is part of Kranti Maidan, to the Ponda Municipal Council (PMC), for public use.
The Kranti Maidan land owned by the PMC was in the possession of the Portuguese military and was later taken over by the Defence Ministry of India after Goa’s Liberation.
Speaking at the Goa Liberation Day event held at Kranti Maidan, Naik said that he succeeded in getting back a part of the Maidan land from the Central Government when he was Chief Minister around three decades ago. However, a major portion of the land is in the possession of the Defence Ministry, and the PMC is facing a shortage of land as it is surrounded with hills , said the Minister. “ We badly need the Kranti Maidan land to undertake public programmers and for public use,” he added.
The event was attended by the councillors of Ponda’s civic body and hundreds of school students.
Naik said that Goa is bow progressing, after being under Portuguese rule for 450 years, and appealed to citizens not to hold agitations against development projects in the State.
