Motorists continue to jostle on the roads for parking space in the commercial capital in the absence of any parking lots worth its names, but the burning issue doesn’t seem to be on the priority list of the powers that be and the authorities.
MARGAO
Indeed, if vehicular parking has been the burning issue plaguing the commercial capital over the years, blame it on the powers that be and the authorities for their utter failure to address the problem on priority and with a sense of urgency.
Be it the Margao Municipal Council, South Goa Planning and Development Authority, Goa State Urban Development Agency, Town and Country Planning Department or the local elected representatives, parking has never received serious attention it deserved from these authorities.
Inquiries by The Goan have revealed that months and years have passed by over the last half-a-decade, but not a single parking lot has seen light of the day till date. Parking lots proposed by GSUDA at the pick-up stand and at the Old Market when the present BJP-led government took over the reigns of office in 2012 are still confined to the files awaiting clearances. And, plans by the Margao Municipal council to put in place a multi-storied parking lot behind the municipal building at the Old Fish Market, is also grounded for want of permissions.
Take the case of the Old Market parking project. Land for vehicular parking along the KTC-Old Market Road was acquired by MMC way back in 2008. Records revealed that it took the civic body around four years to move the planning authorities seeking permission for filling of land. Exchange of correspondence followed between the MMC and SGPDA for a couple of months before the latter in September 2014 resolved to forward the file to the TCP for permission under section 17-A of the TCP.
Records further indicate that though GSUDA had set the ball rolling for the construction of a parking lot at Old market, which envisaged parking to accommodate around 464 four-wheelers and around 522 two-wheelers, the municipal approval came only a year later after four-five power-point presentations for the previous municipal body, again indicating the lack of commitment to resolve the parking imbroglio.
What’s significant to note is that there’s been practically no follow up or back-up action from the authorities though the issue demands urgency and utmost priority. While vehicle owners jostle for parking space and traffic police challan motorists for haphazard parking, official files glanced by The Goan do not contain any urgent reminders from either MMC to the SGPDA or from the PDA to GSUDA for early clearances and approvals.
The parking proposal at the pick-up stand is another case in point. Ask GSUDA officials and the SGPDA over the fate of the multi-storied parking lot, and both officials of the two agencies point accusing fingers at each other for the delay. In the bargain, the parking lot, which was expected to take shape within two years, has not even been given the green signal from the SGPDA from the planning point
of view.
When The Goan called up GSUDA Member Secretary Elvis Gomes to shed light on the fate of the parking lot proposed at the pick-up stand, he said the proposal is pending at the SGPDA end. “We had held a presentation for the SGPDA on our proposal, but the project has still not been approved,” Elvis rued.
SGPDA member secretary Ashok Kumar, however, begged to differ. He conceded that the GUSDA held a power-point presentation for the benefit of the SGPDA officials, but hastened to add that nothing has been heard from GSUDA on the request to hold another presentation for the benefit of the members of the authority.
