Vasco: The Mormugao Municipal Council (MMC), in a special meeting on Friday, decided to request the Mormugao Port Authority (MPA) to lease to the council a portion of its land at the Headland-Sada junction where the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj has been illegally erected.The Bombay high court recently ordered the removal of the statue erected on encroached MPA land. While the collector had scheduled the removal of the statue for Thursday, action was postponed citing a shortage of armed police forces.An MMC official said they propose requesting the MPA to grant it the land on lease, similar to how it has leased a portion of its land to the Murgaon Cha Raja Trust for its annual Ganeshotsav, in proximity to the illegal statue. The decision was taken after several councillors petitioned chairperson Girish Borkar to make the proposal to the MPA.Borkar said that to avoid conflicts, the MMC would send the proposal to the MPA. “The area has been tense since the order for removal of the Shivaji statue was issued,” he said.
