Panaji: With the walking track at the Miramar beach entrance damaged and posing a risk to visitors, citizens and activists have urged the Imagine Panaji Smart City Development Limited (IPSCDL) to remove the deteriorating structures that have become eyesores.Describing the Miramar beachfront development project as a “wasteful expenditure” and a complete write-off, stakeholders said the focus should be on protecting the coastline rather than extensive concretisation.Corporation of the City of Panaji councillor Jack Sukhija said the Miramar pathway, built at a cost of several crores, is already crumbling, while the gazebos have rusted and been abandoned.“The beach faced strong winds, shifting sand, and erosion, and the funds were meant to address that. Somewhere along the way, in the back-and-forth of budgeting and execution, that original intent was lost,” Sukhija said.According to Sukhija, around Rs 12.8 crore to Rs 13 crore was earmarked to strengthen the beach against erosion but was instead spent on unnecessary beautification and concrete structures.Former councillor Patricia Pinto echoed the criticism. “The smart city has wasted money. We want our sand back. We seem to be in love with concrete and we don’t know where to use it. Now we are coming and putting it on our beaches. I think this has to stop,” Pinto said.Entrepreneur Aakash Madgavkar said the authorities should prioritise maintaining existing infrastructure instead of constructing new concrete structures.Sukhija added, “What actually got built were concrete structures — a pathway that, within five years, is already falling apart, and gazebos that are now rusted and abandoned. The entire investment is effectively a write-off.”
