TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
MARGAO: Once picturesque Madel – which now plays host to high rise buildings — is craving for attention. The ward is choked by the Margao KTC bus stand on the east and heavy traffic on the Colva-Margao road on the South. The SGPDA markets, both wholesale and retail, have only added to their suffocation as the unbearable stench has made the lives of the residents miserable. The fields have come in handy for unscrupulous elements to dump or bury hotel and other garbage.
The residents have now threatened to call spade a spade, accusing the district authorities, Collector, RTO, Police and the Margao Municipal Council, for their indifference to their long pending problems.
Coming together under the banner of Ward No 8 Citizens Committee, the residents have called for urgent steps to liberate Madel from the stinking environment.
Purnanand Chari said both the SGPDA wholesale and retail fish markets are in a bad state of affairs. He said the residents are exposed to health hazard with no action initiated to control the stench in the markets. “The residents have been knocking the doors of the authorities ever since the wholesale fish market and the retail fish market were set up in our backyard, but in vain. It’s over a decade since the wholesale fish market was set up in our close vicinity, but there’s no effluent treatment plant in place till date,” he rued.
The residents are also aghast at the indifferent attitude of the RTO and police in controlling the vehicular traffic on the Margao-Colva road. “We have been pleading with the authorities to erect a speed breaker on the Colva circle-Mungul road to regulate traffic flow, but there’s no response till date,” he added.
The spate of thefts and burglaries in the compact ward has left the residents a worried lot. “A number of apartments in Madel had been burgled in recent times, but the police have failed to achieve any breakthrough. Madel has changed over the years with the houses making way for high rise buildings. We want the police to make its presence felt at Madel to keep the anti socials at bay’, he added.
The construction of a structure right on the banks of River Sal near the wholesale fish market has drawn strong protests from the local residents. A local resident Anthony Fernandes urged the authorities to take cognisance of the illegal construction and get it demolished. “It’s surprising that the illegal structure has not come across the Municipal body or the district authorities till date,” he added.
