It could be a deliberate mistake or manipulation by theMormugao Planning and Development Authorities (MPDA) that caused Paxton Pereiraand his family much anxiety.
A 527 square meters plot, originally marked as open spaceand exactly adjacent to the Pereira northern compound wall is part of surveynumber 39/1, 40/1 in Dabolim. This plot, number 8, was erroneously shown as RZone instead of S1 zone, claimed the MPDA, the total opposite of what was toldto them when they were looking to buy the plot that they are currently livingon. Pereira purchased the duplex rowvilla in Karma Bay View, keeping in mind that the plot adjacent to the villawas open and he would have a good view of the Zuari river. He simultaneouslydeveloped the open space to create a garden. Soon after, a person claiming tobe an associate with a New Delhi based company, raised an objection to thegarden, claiming that it was private property and that his company was lookingto construct a house there.
Pereira started his agitation against the authorities fromthen on, claiming that the open space was illegally converted to a settlementzone. The local panchayat, Chicalim, remained silent on the matter. But, whatwas intriguing was the response from the MPDA, who claimed that it (thediscrepancy in zoning) was a mistake due to ink that had inadvertently smudgedon the adjoining plot besides the open space. Thus the action of the change of land use in the survey number 40/1was done under clause no 7 of approved outline development plan (ODP) isapplicable to said plot.The clause read as follows “All the approvals grantedearlier as commitment with respect to the zones for which approval is grantedis inadvertently not reflected in the ODP”. “And therefore the plot number 8 ofthe property bearing survey number 40/1 of Dabolim village was zoned as S-1from R zone,” stated the PDA.
“My wife and I are shocked. We did our homework, perused thePDA records, confirmed that this plot had an unobstructed view and only thendid we invest money into it,” said Mr. Paxton Pereira. His wife, Sabita, isequally incensed. “We will fight back till we get justice” she says.
The member secretary of the MPDA, R K Pandita claimed thatthere was no wrong-doing involved. “However, as the complainant had someobjections, we have asked for a re-survey and even a joint survey along withthe complainant. We acknowledge that there are some mistakes in the approvedODP. There are chances that the color marked in ODP sometimes covers adjoiningareas, which once brought to notice can also be corrected under clause 7,”Pandita added.
He also stated that the ODP was made on the basis of a siteplan and the green color covered the plot nos 8, 32, 33 in the subdivision planof Mohiddin Estate I, which has been rectified. The owner of Mohiddin Estate,Mr Avez Mohiddin, the original owner of the property, claimed that the mess wasactually created by the PDA authorities as the approved ODP wrongly projectedsome plots as green (R zone). “We sold plot number 8 to a party, who later soldto another and now the Delhi based company is the third party. We have nowcarried out a re-survey of the subdivision plan, which reconfirmed thateverything is correct and the changes needs to be made in the ODP, as requestedby the PDA,” Mohiddin said. There may be more mistakes if the plans are studiedin detail, but it now remains to be seen how many more people like Paxton andSabita Pereira will have to suffer the consequences of bad planning.
