MARGAO
Monte plays host to Madgavkars as the young and the old take a drive to the hillock offering a panoramic view of the bustling city down under. It’s popular amongst young lovers as well as the old and the health conscious and the tree cover dotting along the northern side of the Chapel-TB hospital road has only added aesthetic value to the heritage area, comprising of the centuries old Chapel and the TB sanatorium.
The picturesque surroundings atop the hillock, however, may soon become a thing of the past as the half-a-kilometer long stretch of road with tree cover, now faces the risk of losing its aesthetic value if the planning and other authorities succumb to pressures from the real estate lobby.
Investigations by The Goan has now revealed that Friday’s incident of tree felling and land filling in an orchard zone, though restricted to a 200 meter area, is not at all by accident, but by a design. The activity, which is intended to destroy the tree cover in order to prepare the way for land filling in an orchard zone comes against the backdrop of the rejection of repeated requests for change of zone from orchard to settlement by the South Goa Planning and Development Authority during the finalisation of the Outline Development Plan (ODP) for Margao.
Inquiries revealed that the SGPDA had received around 2-3 requests for change in zone of the land in question from orchard to settlement. These requests, The Goan understands, however, did not find favour with the SGPDA constituted three-member Sub-Committee headed by Chairman Savio Correia.
It is learnt that the PDA panel’s decision did not go down well with one of the applicant, who even tried to bulldoze his way during the ODP deliberation by exerting political pressure on the panel to reverse the decision, before the members stuck to their guns and rejected requests for zone conversion.
When The Goan contacted panel Chairman Savio Correia to shed light on reasons behind the panel’s decision to reject the request for change in zone atop the Monte Hill, he said that the city in general and the Monte Hill in particular would lose its aesthetic value if the zone is changed from orchard to settlement. “This is the only last vestige of greenery left in the city. The area offers a panoramic view of the city. Monte Hill would lose all its value and character if the tree cover makes way for settlement,” Correia asserted.
“The steep gradient of the land in question was another factor that went against the requests for change in zone,” Correia added.
Interestingly, the land filling has come at a time when the finalisation of the ODP is on hold and the activity has also come against the backdrop of the fact that requests for zone conversion were rejected by the PDA sub-panel. It is now feared in local circles that the tree felling accompanied by land filling may be a ground for the party to make a fresh attempt to get the zone changed in the event the controversial ODP is reopened for suggestions and objections after the new government assumes office, giving the parties some room to push in with their request for zone change with renewed vigour.
A senior planning official told The Goan that any decision to grant request of any one party would open a Pandora box as requests would pour in from all owners along the 500-meter stretch for conversion of the land zone. Sources said that while the PDA was in receipt of request of 2-3 parties, any decision to accept their request would only embolden other owners along the remaining stretch to clamour for zone conversion.
The Goan understands that this is not the first time that parties or builders have knocked the doors of the SGPDA for zone conversion of this stretch of Monte Hill along the Chapel-TB Hospital road. However, all requests mooted by the parties had all failed to find favour with the SGPDA at the time of finalisation of the city ODP.
