MARGAO
SGPDA Chairman Mauvin Godinho frankly admitted that PDA would certainly like to cap the exercise before the election code comes into force, while at the same time hastened to allay apprehensions raised in certain quarters that the PDA is rushing with the plan,
It has promised to provide a comprehensive and balanced ODP for Margao.
What, however, has raised many an eyebrow in certain quarters is the fact that the SGDPA has called for a meeting on December 7 when the process of hearing the 500-odd applications for suggestions and objections had ended only on November 30. Sources informed The Goan that the PDA had initially told the sub-committee to submit its reports on December 2, just two days after the panel had completed the process of hearing objections and suggestions when the ground work remained incomplete and the panel was yet to hear institutions and government departments.
Mauvin, however, said the meeting on December 7 has been called to give a stamp of approval to the ODP so that the Margao ODP proposal reaches the Town and Country Planning Board before December 12, when the board would discuss and give the final stamp of approval for the ODP. Why should Margao lose out when ODPs of other cities will come before the Board?” he questioned.
The Margao Municipal Council, which ought to have been kept in the loop in the planning process from day one to understand and assess the city’s requirements, will appear before the three-member PDA sub-committee only on Monday. Various other government departments, which were notified twice to send in their inputs via-v-sis the planning process, are yet to respond, with sources informing that only the department of planning and statistics has responded with a letter, saying it has nothing to say on the ODP. Even the legal opinion sought by the PDA on certain points raised by local city-based NGOs is not yet to come to the authority for discussions and action.
On this count, Mauvin says the PDA will take the views of the MMC and the government departments and incorporate them in the ODP before the December 7 meeting. “We will not leave any institution or department out of the loop. Their views will not be left out,” he said, exuding confidence that views of these institutions will come before the meeting.
Questions are indeed raised in the corridors of Osia Commercial Complex, which is housing the SGPDA office, whether it’s humanly possible for the three member sub-committee comprising Savio Correia, Dilip Prabhudesai and Dilip Sopstheswarkar to make its recommendations to the PDA within a short time frame, after hearing a mammoth 500-plus applications. And, whether the PDA will only decide on the applications for suggestions and objections “ as a good number of 500-plus applications received by the PDA pertained to change in zones from settlement to commercial and for higher FARs “ or will put its heart and mind in the exercise and ensure a holistic approach to the entire planning process.
For, it has come to the notice of the sub-committee panel that many a road or open spaces created after sub-division of plot do not at all reflect or find a mention in the draft Margao ODP. Sources in the know said even the multi-storey parking project mooted by the Margao Municipality behind its building still finds no mention on the ODP despite the project being tendered by the civic body. “When will all these roads, open spaces and other land marks reflect in the ODP. Why was no prior survey conducted to ascertain the roads and land marks and include them in the plan?” questioned sources.
Mauvin, however, begged to differ. “Though the exercise was mammoth in nature, we worked in different directions. While the panel heard the suggestions, the PDA officials worked on other fronts. Again, let me say, the ODP will be a balance and a comprehensive one for Margao,” he added.
As far as the roads and open spaces are concerned, Mauvin denies that these do not reflect on the ODP. “The PDA has taken enough care through a survey to ensure that roads, open spaces and land marks find mention in the plan,” he asserted.
