MARGAO
When the Advocate General submitted before the High Court that the Goa State Urban Development Agency (GSUDA) has identified and demarcated an area admeasuring 2,500 square metres to build the kabrastan at Sonsodo, many an eyebrow was raised in local quarters how come only a small portion of the acquired land admeasuring 30,000 square metres is being developed for the burial grounds.
It’s official now. A survey report compiled by the GSUDA Consultant Rahul Deshpande has categorically stated that majority of the acquired land admeasuring 30,145 square metres had a gradient higher than 25 per cent and is not developable under present Town and Country Planning Rules and regulations.
In fact, the survey report, which was submitted in the High Court in public interest litigation, has further categorically stated that parts of the remaining plot can be developed if certain rules and regulations of Town and Country Planning are relaxed.
This startling submission and ground reality has brought to the fore the moot question “ whether the Margao Municipal Council had carried out a feasibility study before the civic body approved the proposal for land acquisition for burial grounds for all the three communities.
Or, did the Margao Municipal Council resolve to acquire the land admeasuring 30,000 square metres, partly comunidade and partly private, owned by a Goan family without ascertaining all aspects of the land in question, including the question whether the land is developable under the then Town and Country Planning norms?
Or, did the Margao civic body went ahead with the land acquisition proposal at the dictates of the powers that be just for the sake of acquisition despite knowing fully well that the TCP norms and regulations will not allow the utilisation of the entire plot of land for the burial grounds.
In fact, these and many other questions have indeed come to the fore and remains unanswered as the ground reality clearly shows that while the civic body and the politicians went to the town tom-tomming they have resolved the kabrastan imbroglio by acquiring land admeasuring 30,000 square metres, only 2,500 square metres of this land is now found developable at the site.
A glance at the survey report, which was conducted using DGPS method/ survey equipment, for a plot admeasuring 30,191 square metres as per the land acquisition records, has revealed that the plot is sloping, with a gradient higher than 25 degrees.
As per the survey report, the area of the plot surveyed on ground admeasures around 30,145 square metres, wherein majority of the land has a gradient higher than 25 per cent and is not developable under present TCP Rules and Regulations.
The survey report further stated that the lower part (south side) of the acquired plot is developable only after carrying out substantial land development and hill cutting. “The width of this stretch would be 15.00 m wide, admeasuring approximately 2,500 square metres,” the report said.
As per the survey report compiled by the GSUDA, only land admeasuring 2,500 square metres is developable. The report has concluded by saying that parts of the remaining plot can be developed, if certain rules and regulations of TCP are relaxed.
During the site visits, it was noticed by the survey team that the site was sloping, fully covered with dense bushes/ thick vegetation thereby making it completely inaccessible. The survey was conducted since it was essential to conduct a proper topographic land survey to establish the boundaries and to determine the levels and contours.
Did MMC conduct feasibility study before acquiring land?
MARGAO: The Margao Municipal Council had set in motion the process to acquire the land at Sonsodo admeasuring 30,191 square metres bearing Chalta No. 1 of PT Sheet No. 50 for the purpose of burial grounds for all the three communities at the ordinary meeting of the Council on June 28, 2010.
The land in question, partly comunidade and private, was finally acquired by the civic body around November 2011 before the Margao Municipality handed over the acquired land to the management of Jamia Masjid, Margao in the presence of then Chief Minister and Margao MLA Digambar Kamat.
A little over a decade now, the very question over the developable aspect of the acquired land has come to the fore, with a survey conducted by the Goa State Urban Development Agency (GSUDA), saying only land admeasuring 2,500 square metres out of the total 30,000 square metres of land can be developed for the burial grounds, throwing up a moot question whether the civic body had failed to conduct a feasibility study before going for the land acquisition.
