PANAJI
Revenue Minister Atanasio (Babush) Monserrate on Monday backed the move of Town and Country Planning Minister Vishwajit Rane to scrap the Greater Panaji Planning and Development Authority (GPPDA) and merge it with the North Goa Planning and Development Authority (NGPDA).
"It is correct what he (Vishwajit Rane) has done. He has amalgamated GPPDA with the NGPDA," Monserrate said, adding that the formation of GPPDA was a hurried decision.
"When it (GPPDA) was formed I feel it was a hurried decision. Earlier there was only one NGPDA. I think it was formed only to accommodate me at that time," Monserrate said.
The GPPDA was carved out of the NGPDA by creating a separate planning area comprising Taleigao village and a few fast urbanising areas outlying the capital city like Bambolim and the Kadamba plateau back in 2017-18 in the tenure of the former chief minister the late Manohar Parrikar and Vijai Sardesai who was the TCP Minister.
Monserrate, who had joined the Sardesai-led Goa Forward Party (GFP) was appointed GPPDA's first chairperson then in a decision said to be a quid-pro-quo for his decision to back out of the contest in the Panaji by-election, crucial for the election of Parrikar who had contentiously become chief minister again after quitting as Defence Minister.
Speaking to the media in his ministerial chamber, Monserrate said even functionally, GPPDA was operating as an extension of the NGPDA.
"Even the staff we used to use the people from the NGPDA," Monserrate said, adding that he had no issues with the decision of the TCP minister to merge GPPDA with the NGPDA.
Incidentally, Monserrate's wife Jennifer, who is the Taleigao MLA is currently the chairperson of NGPDA.
The TCP Board, Rane had announced last week, decided to disband the GPPDA and bring all its areas under the jurisdiction of the NGPDA, except the area on the Kadamba plateau.
The Kadamba plateau is being proposed to be developed as a 'satellite township' and the planning for it will be done at a later date, Rane had said.
