MARGAO
Beleaguered farmers from Madel and Rawanfond anxiously look forward for the South Goa Planning and Development Authority (SGPDA) to de-notify and revert back their acquired fields from commercial zone to agriculture.
For, the SGPDA has set in motion the process to finalise the Outline Development Plan (ODP) 2031 for Margao city and the farmers have petitioned the planning body to de-notify the fields and revert the status back to agriculture.
In fact, the beleaguered farmers have filed their suggestions and objections to the draft-ODP in December 2022 when the ODP was again opened by the SGPDA.
Farmer Claudius Dias along with farmers cultivating the agricultural fields opposite the Margao railway station have been knocking the doors of the SGPDA since the time the ODP was opened by the SGPDA in 2021 when the planning body was headed by then MLA Wilfred D’Sa. He said the farmers had all lodged their objections to the ODP 2031 when it was opened by the PDA in 2021. “We had submitted our objections to the PDA to revert back the zone of the acquired fields from commercial zone to agriculture,” he said.
Claudius added: “We have conveyed to the SGPDA that the acquired fields cultivated by the farmers are the only patch of green zone in the midst of a concrete jungle. Our plea before the PDA is to retain the green zone and allow the farmers to utilise the fields only for the purpose of agriculture.”
Claudius hopes that the SGPDA and the GSUDA will take a positive decision on the plea of the farmers and retain the fields for posterity.
Similar submission had been made by the farmers of Madel before the SGPDA when the ODP was opened for changes in 2021.
