Team Herald
CALANGUTE: Calangute Deputy Sarpanch Joseph Sequeira on Sunday blamed local MLA Michael Lobo for the recurring traffic chaos in the village.
On Saturday, Calangute witnessed heavy traffic jam for the entire day. Starting from St Alex Church up to Calangute beach, heavy vehicles from Gujarat and Maharashtra were parked along the road making it difficult even for two-wheeler to ride through.
Blaming the local MLA Michael Lobo for the traffic chaos, Calangute Sequeira said that it is the local body that has the authority to earmark parking lots, ‘No Parking’ and bus stands. However, Sequeira said, Lobo directed the panchayat secretary to notify parking wherever the MLA wanted. This, Sequeira said, is the reason for traffic chaos in the village.
The deputy sarpanch said that the panchayat had, through the district magistrate, notified parking areas long ago. But the same has been ‘messed up’ by Lobo, Sequeira added.
To solve the parking woes in Calangute, Sequeira said, the panchayat has been fighting, since 1995, for acquiring land admeasuring 38,000 square meters at Borkawado, where the local body proposed to build a market complex and bus stand with parking facilities. However, instead of implementing the panchayat’s proposal, Sequeira complained, the government was doing something else on that land.
“If the government wants to do everything on its own, then, what the Panchayat can do!” he wondered.
“If the government could acquire land for garbage treatment plant, then why is it not acquiring land for market complex project which was also one of their election promise?” Sequeira questioned.
“As per the rules, no parking is allowed within a distance of 100 meters from a place of worship. However, the collector has approved parking at St Alex Church. How did the collector approve the parking at the church?” he asked.
Sequeira said, “We don’t want parking at St Alex Church as per the NGPDA, because we have already identified land at Borkawado and we want the bus stand only there. When the panchayat began with the work of road widening, the State government imposed section 144 on Panchayat.”
