PANAJI
In a major decision, the first meeting of the South Goa Planning and Development Authority (SGPDA) headed by Dr Renuka Da Silva on Monday scrapped the controversial Outline Development Plan (ODP) for Margao and Ponda and resolved to start the process afresh by taking the stakeholders into confidence.
The first meeting of the reconstituted PDA also resolved to request the Conservation Committee to study a proposal to conserve the architectural heritage of Margao’s Old market area, right from the Church square to the Tinto.
After the meeting, Dr Renuka told the media that after taking into account the sentiments of the people of Margao and Ponda and the high Court observations on the ODP, the SGPDA has resolved to start the process to put in place the ODP afresh. “The PDA has further decided to develop the Old market area and restore and conserve the heritage. The meeting further decided to have a complete audit of the PDA market in a time bound manner to set the market straight,” the PDA chairperson said, adding that the meeting has further decided to take up the wholesale fish market reconstruction through the GSIDC to ensure that the market ownership remains with the PDA.
Margao MLA Digambar Kamat, who attended the meeting, later told the media that the PDA members have been unanimous in their resolve to start the ODP process afresh. “Both the Margao Municipal Council as well as the two MLAs had opposed the ODP on grounds that the PDA had failed to take the local bodies into consideration before starting the process. Now, the ODP preparation will commence from the first step as per the laid down guidelines’, he said.
Kamat further said that the restoration and conservation of the Old market will be taken up by the PDA after seeking a report from the conservation panel taking into account the historical importance of the area. “The PDA will constitute a Sub-Committee, which will get in touch with the Conservation Committee on the issue,” he said.
The controversial ODP, which had raised a storm in the city after the MLAs along with the people laid a siege of the SGPDA building on the day of the meeting in December last in anticipation that the PDA will rush with the ODP. It was only after the United Goans Foundation knocked the doors of the High Court that the SGPDA was left with no option than to wait for the disposal of the matter by the Court.
The SGPDA had received as many as 500-old applications for change in zones from builders and real estate developers and individuals from Margao, Fatorda and Ponda.
