PRATIK PARAB
pratik@herald-goa.com
The Margao Municipality has decided to re-demarcate open spaces in Margao and surrounding areas. The Margao Municipal Council (MMC) has land in the form of open spaces and partly developed spaces which include Municipal land, open spaces gifted to the Municipality and land acquired by the MMC. However, hundreds of big and small open spaces gifted and not gifted to the Municipality by developers and housing societies haven’t been identified by the MMC for decades now.
This ignorance has now increased the chances of these spaces being snatched by land sharks and converted to concrete jungles. Additionally, over 25 of these spaces have been encroached on by structures.
The MMC, at the first ordinary meeting has been urged to re-demarcate these lands and plan for the better use of these lands based on today’s needs. The MMC’s plans to develop these open spaces into public utility spaces now lie in their own hands. The MMC has over 58 open spaces and land all over Margao. Rajendra Prasad Stadium and BPS club are included in this area. Some of these spaces have been developed into children’s parks, sulabh toilets etc. “There are over 150 open spaces all over Margao which have been gifted to the MMC by housing societies but haven’t been demarcated, making it difficult for the council to have a plan. These also include lands which the MMC doesn’t know the location of,” Councillor Rupesh Mahatme said.
“There are chances of conversion of these open spaces to commercial complexes or houses and several have already gone down the throats of land grabbers. There is a need for open spaces and converting them into public places like jogger’s parks and children parks. However, that can only happen if the lands are indentified and re-demarcated soon,” Mahatme said.
“We are planning to hire the services of a land surveyor who will survey the lands and demarcate them. We will also find out how many spaces haven’t been gifted to the MMC by the developers and the societies and will identify them during the exercise,” informed Chairperson of MMC, Babita Angle.
Along with these lands, the fate of developing the open space behind MMC also hangs in mid air. The last council which fondly laid the foundation stone of a multi-level parking project hasn’t seen the light of day after the new council took over. The town presently is in dire need for parking spaces. Hundreds of vehicles are seen parked in no parking areas and have now begun receiving challans by the traffic cell.
The MMC, during the meeting was also urged to take over traffic islands and spaces and get corporate bodies to get on board to beautify the lands and islands as it was pointed out in the meet that the places are not being maintained properly by the people who presently have custody of the lands. The process of the re-demarcation may take over 3 months.
