MARGAO: The South Goa Planning and Development Authority (SGPDA) and Town and Country Planning (TCP) Department have been criticised for the alleged lack of transparency and for failing to address the concerns raised by citizens regarding the draft Margao Outline Development Plan (ODP) 2023.
Activists have demanded that SGPDA look into their written complaints against proposed changes in Margao’s draft ODP 2023 and reiterated that the authorities should confirm that what’s mentioned on the ODP reflects on the ground.
It may be recalled that a few months ago, a large number of citizens and experts along with Goyche Fudle Pilge Khatir (GFPK) had presented their objections to the ODP, at a two-hour long hearing conducted by SGPDA. However, GFPK and others have lamented that there has not been much progress as far as their objections are concerned.
“Unfortunately, we haven’t received any feedback or response from SGPDA regarding our suggestions and objections to the Margao ODP. We had previously written to the TCP office in Panjim to follow up on our concerns. However, we haven’t received any updates or acknowledgement from either SGPDA or TCP,”
GFPK President Jack Mascarenhas said.
The GFPK team contended that the draft Margao ODP had multiple area-based mistakes and that the changes made in the land use which were very arbitrary and will cause an irreversible damaging effect on the town for the next eight years. Twenty eight objections were highlighted where low-lying fields were shown as settlement; commercial change of zone and zones which were allotted plot wise with multiple FAR allotted plot wise. Then there were objections to road widths were reduced from 20m to 10m; then non-existent roads being shown as existing instead of proposed; then road width shown as 15m when in reality there is no such space available for the width extension on site; and roads which do not exist on ground but are shown through already built spaces.
Furthermore, objections were raised about Commercial zones allotted near crematorium through green cover; green cover being depleted for it to be developed as settlement zone; and green low-lying areas which are the buffer spaces of the flooding protection to Margao through its khazan fields along the Sal tributary are being converted thereby choking the Sal tributary which can cause flooding in the city in future.
Also petrol pumps were shown in congested areas; commercial and settlement zones alongside River Sal are getting closer, which will only add to the river deterioration and impact the health of the town dwellers. They also added that the Central Business District needs to be demarcated as the Central commercial zones such as C1 be allotted in these areas are not identified thereby making allotted C1 zones as arbitrary and against the very
‘Land Use Regulations’ which govern it.
“Such a hurried draft till 2031, which revises the present ODP 2028 by just three years appears to be both suspicious and not well analysed and integrated with the needs of the growth being experienced by Margao town,” Mascarenhas added.