PANAJI
In a significant move that will not only resolve the long-pending issue of disorganised parking of heavy goods vehicles or trailers in Ponda taluka and its surrounding areas but also generate revenue to the State’s lone sugar factory, the State government has proposed to set up a mega truck terminus at an area of 2 lakh sq mtrs belonging to Sanjeevani Sugar Factory at Dharbandora.
The proposal, which is currently in the draft stage, will include all basic facilities like washrooms, toilets, resting rooms, canteen and other amenities for the truck drivers and support staff at government prescribed rates thus generating revenue to the factory which is shut since 2019.
The proposal is mooted by the Agriculture Minister Ravi Naik and the same will be developed in phased manner. Sanjeevani Sugar Factory, located at Dharbandora, has completed the survey work for the establishment of a truck terminus that will accommodate around 500 trucks at a time. The government intends to charge around Rs 200-250 as parking fees.
“The proposal is in draft stage. The Minister wants to utilize the land for the project that will help generate revenue and at the same time will resolve the persistent issue of heavy vehicle parking along the road side causing accidents,” sources said.
Sources said that the factory’s financial loss has crossed the 100 crore mark.
The proposal was initially discussed in 2023 when Satej Kamat was the administrator of the factory. While the project was delayed, Kamat utilized the area as a parking lot for trucks that helped generate revenue.
Apart from easing the parking woes, the truck terminus project holds the promise of creating employment opportunities for the local population in the Dharbandora taluka.
Since 2019, more than 4.20 lakh sq mtrs of the 15-lakh allotted to the Sanjivani factory for agricultural purposes has been officially given away for non-agricultural purposes.
Almost 25,000 sq metres of land was transferred to a college run by the trust of MLA Ganesh Gaonkar and another two lakh sq metres to the Union government for setting up a National Forensic Sciences University (NFSU) -- the foundation stone for which was laid by Union Home Minister Amit Shah in August 2021.
Before that another two lakh were transferred to the Bar Association for setting up a law college, which the government intends to shift to Mayem.
The government’s plan to revive the mill -- the one started way back in 1972-73 by the State’s first Chief Minister Dayanand ‘Bahusaheb’ Bandodkar -- has yielded no results so far.
