MARGAO
A new chairman took over the reigns of the South Goa Planning and Development Authority (SGPDA) on Thursday, but stakeholders and officials were left to wonder over the fate of the draft-Outline Development Plan (ODP) for Margao and Ponda.
As Vasco MLA Krishna Daji Salkar assumed office of the planning body, there was no clarity from him how he would go about the ODP for Margao and Ponda, which now lay suspended in the wake of the TCP Minister Vishwajit Rane’s decision a day ago.
Salkar apparently preferred to keep his cards close to his chest on the ticklish question of ODP. He neither indicated that the ODP will be scrapped and a new ODP will be redrawn after the suspension period or the ongoing process will be taken to its logical conclusion.
“We have read the WhatsApp messages and the TCP Minister’s briefing on the issue of ODP. If it is required to draw a new plan, we will go by the instructions of the Minister,” he said.
Planning bodies is not new to the first-time Vasco MLA, having had a stint as Chairman of the Mormugao Planning and Development Authority (MPDA) in the past. He, however, will have to take a call, may be in consultation with the TCP Minister, how to go about the 163 applications received by the SGPDA, mostly for the change in zones when the Margao and Ponda OPD was opened for suggestions in December last during the tenure of his predecessor, Wilfred D’Sa.
Unlike other ODPs, the process of putting in place the Margao and Ponda ODP had reached the stage of scrutiny of the public suggestions and objections to the draft-ODP.
With Salkar preferring not to speak his mind on the fate of the ODP, stakeholders and officials will have to keep their fingers crossed before the government or the PDA takes a call on the draft-ODP.
Salkar, however, sent a message that he would try and provide a transparent and people-friendly administration. “I am not new to planning. As the MPDA Chairman, I had understood how the PDAs function. It would be my endeavour to provide transparency and people-friendly administration,” he vowed. Conceding that a host of issues might have plagued the PDA in the past, he promised to get the details from the Member Secretary. Salkar further pointed out that he would take forward the proposal to set up a commercial complex and address issues relating to the wholesale and retail fish issues.
PLANNING BODY STUFFED WITH POLITICIANS?
MARGAO: As the MLAs from Margao, Fatorda and Ponda were all inducted on the South Goa Planning and Development Authority (SGPDA), Curtorim found no representation on the planning body once again.
Technically, Curtorim and other villages do not constitute the planning areas in the jurisdiction of the SGPDA. However, the Gogol Housing Board, which is part of the Margao Municipal Council, is part and parcel of the SGPDA. In fact, the Gogol Housing Board area of the Margao Municipal Council has been the focus of real estate development in recent times. Once again, however, the MLA representing Curtorim, Reginaldo Lourenco is not a member of the Planning body like his counterparts Digambar Kamat, Vijai Sardesai and Ravi Naik.
Agenda before new PDA chief
Kabrastan: Task at hand for new planning body
MARGAO: How would the government and the SGPDA go about handling the contentious issue of kabrastan is a million dollar question asked in political circles? Will the government antagonise Goa Forward chief Vijai Sardesai by reverting the zone of the acquired land at Sonsodo from orchard to kabrastan?
For, the SGPDA in 2019, when the planning body was controlled by the Goa Forward, had changed the zone of the land acquired for kabrastan into orchard and housing. In fact, the ODP 2028 had shifted the kabrastan from Sonsodo to Sirvodem-Khareband after the change of zone in 2019.
In the run up to the Assembly polls, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant had promised to revert back the kabrastan zone at Sonsodo. In fact, instructions were issued to the Urban Development officials to lodge their suggestions in the draft-ODP in December last year to restore the status of the Sonsodo land to kabrastan.
