MARGAO: Though it is the ‘Margao’ Municipal Council the A class Municipality has spread in the Assembly constituency Curtorim. Two of the Wards of MMC ward 24 and 25 falls in MMC jurisdiction and 23 is a ward that falls partly in Fatorda and partly in Curtorim. While 24 and 25 falls in Housing Board areas the wards have similar demography and issues.
There were four contestants in ward 25 but the main contest was between the present Councillor Kutuboddin Bagewadi and Babita Naik. The winner had won with only 16 votes. This time the ward has been made reserved for women along with 23 and 24.
Looking at the issues of ward 25 there are some perennial issues that are yet far from resolution. A look around the ward will reveal how necessary public toilets, proper sewage and drainage system, and garbage management is for this ward. The ward mostly has migrants and minority community population.
The people in this ward have extended their houses to 3 and 4 storeys and have given them on rent. They pay the house tax and garbage fees of only one house but are generating waste of 8 or 9 houses. While considering the revenue loss to the municipality the new council will have the challenge to find out the actual statistics of these areas and make sure that all are made to comply with the rules of the town.
Siddhesh Sawant, a resident of ward 25, said “No one knows who comes, who stays, and who does what in our ward. There is a sense of fear and concern among the honest people in the ward.”
In Ward 24 the contest was between Raju Hadlee Shirodkar and Sadanand (Paklo) Naik in which Raju Shirodkar won with over 700 votes. The ward is slightly different from that of ward 25. Mostly consisting of individual houses and big residential complexes, this ward needs basic civic amenities like parks grounds and maintenance of open spaces. There is a good road network, but for the people travelling in buses and public transport, there are not many bus stops where they can board and alight. The sewerage scheme work in the ward too is being done for ages but not complete yet.
Roger D’silva from ward 25 said, “A fatigue has set in among the people and they are tired of the old ways of governing the wards. In fact responsible people from the ward are themselves keeping the ward going leaving very little for the councilor,” he said.
Ward 23 was fought between 6 candidates. Sugandha Bandekar, supported by the BJP, was elected after defeating Fatorda Forward candidate Venkatesh Raut Desai. Ward 23 is on the border of Gogal and falls mostly in Vidyanagar areas. The ward is absolutely commercial and a booming market area that has developed in recent years. There are at least six nationalised bank branches, 3 supermarkets, and a dozen of doctors and pharmacies. The ward also has a pharmaceutical factory. But, with ever-increasing commercial activities, the ward and its roads are full of vehicles parked on roadsides which are causing traffic nightmares every morning and evening.
