the goan I network
MARGAO
The inordinate delay in the constitution of the South Goa Planning and Development Authority (SGPDA) has virtually paralysed the functioning of the planning body having its jurisdiction over the planning areas of Margao and Ponda municipal bodies.
Indications that Congress-turned-BJP MLA Wilfred D’Sa will take over the reigns of SGPDA, as a reward for switching political sides, has not helped change the ground reality in the PDA.
Consider this. Applications for development permissions have been piling up since the last one month and half. And with not a single development permission issued by the body for want of a chairperson and a new body, revenue earnings has hit a low, not only affecting the PDA income, but also payments to the contractors.
Plans by the PDA to appoint a new sopo contractor has gone haywire with the authority not in place. And, payments to various contractors, including contractors for the maintenance of the wholesale and retail fish market, besides the lift maintenance contractor, have been held up for want of a chairman or authority.
Inquiries by The Goan has revealed that around 40-50 applications for development permissions have been pending with the SGDPA ever since ex-chairperson Dr Renuka Da Silva quit office on July 15, five days after political developments that unfolded in the State on July 10 when the Goa Forward was unceremoniously dumped from the coalition government.
The last time the SGDPA had met under the leadership of Dr Renuka was on July 8. Since then, more so after her resignation, the SGPDA had not met again for want of a chairperson or a new body, as a result of which applications for development permissions have been lying unattended in the PDA.
“Around 40-50 applications for development permissions for both residential and commercial projects are presently pending in the PDA, awaiting clearances from the authority. These applications will be cleared only after the new chairperson and the body assumes office,” informed an official.
With the SGPDA relying solely on the revenue earned from issuance of development permissions towards the upkeep and maintenance of the planning body, the delay in clearing the files has had a telling effect on the PDA revenue and expenses.
Sources in the know informed that PDA’s monthly expenditure, pegged around Rs 18 lakh, mostly comprises of the expenditure on salary payments, payments for the market cleaning contractors and the lift maintenance contractor. Presently, the PDA has not cleared the payments for the contractors for want of a chairperson or the authority to sign on the payments. If sources are to be believed, an amount to the tune of Rs 5.59 lakh is paid to different contractors on the maintenance front every month.
Apart from the development permission and other administrative issues, the PDA is also awaiting a new chairperson and a body to appoint a new sopo contractor to boost the revenue of the civic body. Plans to implement Goa State Pollution Control Board’s directions for the upkeep and maintenance of the PDA wholesale and retail fish markets have not been taken to its logical conclusion for want of a chairperson.
