ASMITA POLJI
asmita@herald-goa.com
Mapusa is known as the capital city of Bardez Taluka and is represented by Dy CM Francis D’souza for the last four terms. But even after being in power for so long and also being DY CM of Goa during his 2012 to 2017 tenure, there are many people’s demands and poll promises of 2012 manifesto which have not been fulfilled.
Mapusa constituency comprises 20 wards with 28,775 registered voters –14,199 males and 14,576 females. With the increase in population there are many problems which have also increased in this constituency for the last five years.
Mapusa has seen more people flocking to this town for business and employment but the increase in migrants today, has seen this community almost taking over the town.
A major problem the people of Mapusa are reportedly facing is the takeover of Mapusa market by the Gujarati people. Most of the shops in Mapusa market are run by outsiders who pay a monthly rent of Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000.
Today all the footpaths in Mapusa are occupied by hawkers. This has made it difficult for pedestrians to even walk on the footpaths. It might be recalled that the Bombay High Court had ordered the authorities to clear all the footpaths under the supervision of the Mapusa Chief Officer Sakharam Tukaram Sawant. After the court order, the footpaths were cleared and the kiosks were reduced to the original size of 2 by 2 metres from the overgrown size of 2×6 or 2x 8. However, as time elapsed and due to political influence the Mapus Municipality and the MLA reportedly issued instructions not to disturb the hawkers using the footpaths.
Garbage is another major issue in Mapusa. Even after having 150 workers involved in the daily collection and disposal of garbage, every corner of Mapusa is seen with heaps of garbage. To solve this problem, MMC was about to decide on installing CCTVs at different locations of the town but this plan is yet to materialise.
Along with garbage, parking is another major problem which the residents of Mapusa as well as people visiting Mapusa are facing on a daily basis. Thousand of vehicles drive into and pass through Mapusa every day. The multi-storey parking facility that was promised and planned at the existing bus stand appears to be still in pipeline since the approval for the new bus stand is still pending with the PDA.
With the increase in population, water scarcity is also a problem. To get relief, people say that at least they should get water supply for four or five house daily. There are situations in some parts of Mapusa where people call for private tankers to get water for their daily use.
CM Laxmikant Parsekar, in the presence of Mapusa MLA, had once promised the people of Mapusa of immediate change of the electricity wires after the fire incident at hotel Shirodkar causing loss of lakhs of rupees due to a short-circuit. People are still waiting for that day to dawn. They hope the Electricity Department wakes up before any fire mishap occurs.
Due to the uneven road conditions in Mapusa reportedly caused by the implementation of JICA projects, people are facing difficulty in travelling for the past three years.
People say this problem has occurred because DY CM, who is their MLA, has not paid due attention to it. Ravindra Bhavan was also one of the promises given by the BJP government but there is no sign of it.
in Mapusa for the last five years. Sources said that Ravindra Bhavan is proposed to be set up in the down
