the goan I network
MARGAO
The draft Outline Development Plan (ODP) for Margao and Ponda is finally in the public domain, with the Town Planning Board inviting suggestions and objections from public to the plan in the next 60 days.
South Goa Planning and Development Authority (SGPDA) Member Secretary Ashok Kumar said the draft ODP will be displayed in the office of the SGPDA for the next 60 days to facilitate members of the public to inspect the plan and submit their suggestions and objections. “Beginning with the notification of the draft ODP, members of the public gets 60-day time to lodge their suggestions and objections to the ODP,” Ashok Kumar said.
To a query, the PDA Member Secretary told The Goan that the PDA will also dispatch a copy of the draft ODPs to the Margao and Ponda Municipal Councils respectively. “People having any queries can also visit the two Municipal bodies and take a look at the draft ODPs”, Ashok Kumar said.
Once the time-frame of 60 days is over, the PDA will then scrutinise the suggestions and objections and it remains to be seen whether the PDA will constitute a sub-committee to go into the suggestions and present a report before the Authority.
The last time the SGPDA had carried out the process of inviting objections and suggestion to the draft ODP was in 2016 when the SGPDA was headed by then Chairman Mauvin Godinho. The process, however, had gone haywire after the MLAs of both Margao and Fatorda, Digambar Kamat and Vijai Sardesai respectively along with Ponda MLA Lavu Mamledar and the Margao Municipal Council along with the citizens had vehemently objected to the finalisation of the ODP on grounds that the PDA did not follow the due process of law.
The controversy later reached the High Court, which had almost stayed the PDA from finalising the ODP after a city-based NGO had filed a PIL in the court.
