MARGAO
A special meeting of the authority held on April 13 has resolved that Section 39(3) of the TCP Act 1974 permits consideration of proposal in public interest on condition that such changes are to be notified to the public. Accordingly, the PDA members have decided to move the proposal to the government for approval so that a notification is issued in official gazette before issuing the public notice in newspapers.
The SGDPA at its 66th meeting a year ago had decided that the entire area admeasuring 7,701 sq mts proposed by the PWD for the rehabilitation of dwelling units and kiosks in lieu of land acquisition for construction of ring road in the property bearing Chalta No 2 of P T Sheet no. 209 has to be converted into
settlement zone.
The change in zoning proposal, however, got stuck in the PDA after the ODP was mired in controversy and the high court restraining SGPDA from taking up the issue of revised ODP 2026.
However, when the PDA informed the High Court in PIL Suo Moto No 1/2015 that in view of the interim order operating against the authority with regard to the finalization of the ODP plan 2026, further steps to complete the change of zoning as well as the rehabilitation scheme submitted by the PWD could not be finalised, the high court modified the order to allow the SGPDA to examine the partial modification to the extent of 7,701 sq mts for the scheme proposed by the PWD since the project was in public interest intended to decongest the traffic moving through the main city.
PDA officials pointed out that the PDA was granted time by the high court in the PIL till April 17 to take a decision and implement the rehabilitation scheme so that the ring road is completed at the earliest.
“After the SGPDA had its meeting on April 13, the PDA moved the high court on April 17, placing before the court the decision according its nod for the change in zone of the land in question from Agriculture to settlement,” remarked a PDA official.
The ring road project along the Comba section had been stuck for well over a decade now over the rehabilitation of the people affected by the road. Though the government had acquired land for the rehabilitation of the people to be displaced by the project, the rehabilitation scheme failed to take off for want of change in zone of the acquired land from agriculture
to settlement.
