The grand 60th birthday celebration of Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar at SAG ground, attended by over 50,000 people with nearly thousand additional vehicles entering the city on that day – December 13, leading to major traffic chaos on the DB Marg, could be looked as an eye opener by the authorities to shift such mega events – private or government sponsored as well as commercial exhibitions outside the Capital, considering that the infrastructure in the form of Shyama Prasad Mukherjiee stadium already being in place to house such events.
The birthday celebration of Parrikar is just an example, but authorities like Sports Authority of Goa (SAG), Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP) and others have been granting permissions to hold several events – especially Government (Lokotsav, Wine and Food Festival, birthday celebration of political leaders) and commercial exhibitions – leading to heavy traffic and parking crisis. The people living in the nearby residential areas are often seen complaining of the chaotic situation resulting due to these mega events. No doubt, these generates quite a good revenue for State, and the public in large are not against holding any such events, but their view considering the situation resulting out of it, the same needs to be moved out of City.
“There is no problem in holding events, exhibitions but it should not disturb the life in the city. With lack of parking space and no proper management of traffic, these events often turn out to be disaster,” Narendra Suktankar, a local resident from Campal, said.
Dr Shayama Prasad Mukherjiee stadium, constructed on the outskirt of the Capital city, is one such infrastructure created by the State government to house mega events or festivals- as it can easily accumulate over 30,000 people, with ample parking space, having no traffic woes. The Stadium, built during the 2014 Lusofonia Games and also infrastructure towards upcoming National Games, has already hosted inaugural and closing ceremonies of International Film Festival of India (IFFI) for two consecutive years, a major public meeting of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in June, last year and many commercial and government conferences and exhibitions. This was a perfect and appreciated move by the State government.
The very successful concert of the iconic Danish rock band Michael Learns to rock last Saturday held at the Shyama Prasad Mukherjee stadium, established the fact we indeed have a multi-purpose venue which can double up as a sports and a mega events venue with ultra modern facilities
“We have infrastructure in place in form of Shyama Prasad Mukherjiee stadium. Also we have open ground at Merces. These two can take good care of such events, which otherwise disturbs the city life. The Parade ground or SAG ground are meant for sports. It is place for students or sports people to take training and not for events,” activist Anand Madgaonkar said.
As rightly pointed out by Madgaonkar, the ground at Merces, located right next to Panjim-Old Goa bypass – can be well utilized. The ground was first used in January 2014, wherein BJP government organized a massive public meeting cum campaign for Lok Sabha election, addressed by Narendra Modi. Nearly one lakh people had attended the meeting. This was followed by commercial exhibitions there, after CCP denied permissions to hold it at the Parade ground.
“We don’t allow any commercial exhibitions or events to take place in the city, expect for the events that are in association with the Government or CCP. We have stopped granting permissions to events to take place on parade ground,” CCP Commissioner Sanjit Rodrigues said.
Therefore people have a right to wonder under what “category” the public reception for Mr Parrikar was slotted.
