The major issues of Mapusa town are garbage disposal, traffic congestion, bad roads, flooding of the municipal market during the monsoons, frequent power fluctuation and the Ravindra Bhavan.
Although four former chairpersons – Sudhir Kandolkar, Ashish Shirodkar, Sandeep Falari and Roopa Bhakta – claim that significant development had taken place during their tenures, most of the citizens disagree and state that the outgoing council has failed miserably in their duties.
Khorlim resident and social worker Madhukar Bhonsale stated that the residents of Khorlim are facing a water shortage, frequent power fluctuations and flooding of internal roads due to non-cleaning of drains. He continued, “In Mapusa, there are no recreation facilities, especially for senior citizens. Mapusa is known for art and culture, and yet there is no Ravindra Bhavan. It is surprising that the government has constructed a Ravindra Bhavan in Ponda, Margao, Vasco and Sakhali, but Mapusa is starving for the same, despite the local MLA being the deputy chief minister.”
Mapusa Merchants Association president Yeshwant Gaundalker stated that the Mapusa Municipal Council collects garbage fees of Rs 400 every year from the shopkeepers at the market, but fails to collect the garbage from those shops.
“Three years ago, MMC promised that a high-mast pole will be installed at the Mapusa market, but nothing has been done yet. The Mapusa market gets flooded during the rains every year, but MMC failed to find the solution for the same. Fire breaks out at the market every year mostly due to short circuits. The five fire hydrants in the market are unused due to insufficient water supply. The Mapusa fire station has requested MMC to construct an overhead tank, but MMC failed to do so,” said Gaundalkar.
All Goa Merchants Federation president Narayan Karekar stated that most of the roads in Mapusa are in horrible condition and in need of urgent hot-mixing. He added, “The government has laid a sewage pipeline worth crores of rupees, but the work appears to be substandard. During the rains, the water flows out of the sewage chambers, and hence, the question arises whether this sewerage project will be a success or not. Traffic congestion is another major problem in Mapusa today, but MMC could not find the solution for the same yet.”
