Team Herald
MARGAO: The Minister for Urban Development Milind Naik has nominated 6 of his supporters from his town as members of Goa State Urban Development Agency(GSUDA) . Sashaikant Parab, Vice Chairman of Mormugao Municipal Council, from Mormugao has been appointed as the Vice Chairman of GSUDA.
The other members include Murari Bandekar (Vasco), a former close aide of Sankalp Amonkar who now supports Milind, Sarika Palkar (Mormugao), Santosh Kerkar (Vasco), Sandesh Mesta (Vasco), Felix Fernandes (Curchorem), Babu Shetye (Cortalim), Nagesh Chitari (Cuncolim), Venkatesh Naik (Ponda), Samir Dessai (Canacona), Gurudatta Pai (Bicholim).
Shockingly, there are no members from Panjim, Margao and Mapusa in the GSUDA general body. GSUDA members have always been political appointees since there is no specific requirement to qualify as a member of GSUDA, such as Urban Planner, Architect etc. However, even party colleagues like Carlos Almeida have not been consulted during the selection process. Sources say that Milind has not included any Councilors from Carlos’ camp due to the ongoing feud between the two leaders.
GSUDA is the Nodal Agency for coordination, monitoring and implementation of various Centrally sponsored implemented by the Ministry of Urban Development and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, Government of India. However, over the years, the agency has been taking up major projects such as the construction of Markets or commercial complexes using State funds instead of Central funds. The major central funded urban schemes such as AMRUT, Smart City and JNNURM have been implemented by bypassing the urban development agency.
The agency has had a poor track record of completing projects on time. Many of the projects which were meant to be completed in 2017 are still under construction. For example, the Cuncolim AC Hall, which was constructed during former Cuncolim MLA Joaquim Alemao’s tenure as GSUDA Chairman, is in a dilapidated condition. Even the Air Conditioning units have not yet been installed. On the other hand, important projects like Margao’s proposed Multi-Level Parking and Quepem Market are stuck in a limbo.
