the goan I network
MARGAO
With Goa Forward Party chief Vijai Sardesai no more in the Cabinet, many ambitious projects mooted by the former Deputy Chief Minister, including the controversial burial grounds (kabrastan), hang in balance.
The fate of the separate municipal council for Fatorda vowed to be put in place before the next elections for the civic bodies in October 2020 also remains unknown.
While Sardesai only hoped that the government and the South Goa Planning and Development Authority (SGPDA) will take forward the projects, he, however, sounded
a veiled warning that he would have no option than to fight it out on the streets if the ruling dispensation
ignores these.
The SGPDA, which was headed by Goa Forward ex-president Dr Renuka da Silva, had mooted a host of development projects, including an ambitious town hall, renovation of the wholesale fish market, the state-of-the-art food testing laboratory, kabrastan at Sirvodem, entrance gate at Fatorda, the tinto project and the comprehensive development plan.
Besides, Sardesai, during his stint as a key minister in the Manohar Parrikar regime and later as a Deputy Chief Minister in the Pramod Sawant dispensation, had also proposed an IT hub on the portion of the Madel agricultural fields, ultra modern bus stand, parking lot on the MMC acquired land near the KTC bus stand, the Fatorda lake project and ring road at Borda.
What’s interesting to note is that some of these projects, including the wholesale fish market, tinto project, town hall, which had almost reached the stage of tendering, now hangs in balance post-dropping of the three Goa Forward ministers from the government.
“These were all public-oriented projects initiated by me. Some of these projects, including the renovation of SGPDA retail market, were meant to benefit not just the people of Fatorda and Margao, but entire Salcete,” Sardesai said.
Expressing satisfaction that many a development project was taken up during the last two years and four months since March 2017, the Fatorda MLA warned that he would fight out on the streets if any attempt is made to scrap the projects and mete out injustice to Fatordekars.
During his stint in the Manohar Parrikar regime and then as Deputy Chief Minister in the Pramod Sawant Cabinet, Sardesai was accused by his opponents in the Congress for concentrating all the development projects in Fatorda while ignoring the remaining seven Assembly constituencies of Salcete.
