the goan I network
MARGAO
The South Goa Planning and Development Authority (SGPDA) on Thursday set in motion the process of hearing the objections to the draft Outline Development Plan (ODP) for Margao and Ponda by constituting a three-member panel.
Around 400 objections in respect of the Margao ODP and 110 objections for the Ponda ODP have been received by the SGPDA during the two-month period which was kept open for members of the public to submit their objections.
At a meeting chaired by Chairperson Renuka Da Silva, which was attended by MLAs Digambar Kamat and Ravi Naik, besides other members, the PDA constituted a three-member panel comprising of Lyndon Pereira and Venkat Raut and PDA Member Secretary Ashok Kumar.
Chairperson Renuka told the media after the meeting that the sub-committee constituted by the PDA at Thursday’s meeting will scrutinise the objections received by the PDA for the ODP for both Margao and Ponda. “The committee will go into the objections and after giving a hearing to the parties will prepare a report and place the same before the PDA for approval,” she said.
PDA Member Secretary Ashok Kumar told The Goan that the three-member panel will kick start the exercise of hearing the objections from Monday, saying though there’s no time frame set to complete the hearing, the panel would like to complete the exercise at the earliest.
“Our exercise of scrutinising the objections will start from Monday. All the parties, which have submitted their objections will be called for a hearing at the PDA office,” he said.
To another question, Ashok Kumar said around 400 objections have been received for the Margao ODP and the PDA staff is still scrutinising the objections to ascertain whether any objections have been lodged twice by the parties.
Margao MLA Digambar Kamat told the media after coming out of the meeting that the sub-committee constituted by the PDA at Thursday’s meeting will go into each and every objection before compiling a report which will then be placed before the Authority for approval.
This is the second time in the last two years that the PDA is undertaking the exercise given that the previous endeavour had come a cropper following a raging controversy over the manner in which the entire exercise was carried out by the PDA in violation of the rules.
