MARGAO
The South Goa Planning and Development Authority (SGPDA) may have to grapple with a host of questions over plan to introduce pay-parking on its sprawling grounds in front of the SGPDA office and opposite the vegetable market.
For, the pay-parking proposal for two-wheelers, four-wheelers, besides six and eight-wheeled vehicles received a further nod from the SGPDA at its meeting held on Thursday, with instructions issued to the PDA officials to prepare a concrete fee structure before its implementation.
The proposal, however, has thrown up questions given that vehicles on the SGPDA ground are primarily parked by visitors to the hundreds of offices and business establishments in the Osia Commercial Complex. Besides, the complex also plays host to as many as four government offices, including the Road Transport Department (RTO), Town and Country Planning Department (TCP), Sales and Commercial Tax Department, besides the office of District Registrar and the SGPDA.
That’s not all. The Osia Commercial Complex also plays host to INOX theatre, besides a multiplex, and shopping malls in the five multi-storeyed buildings in the SGPDA mega retail market complex.
The crucial question that may come to haunt the SGPDA is simple “ Has the Osia Commercial Complex, believed to be playing host to hundreds, if not thousands of offices and business establishments, made provision for adequate parking space for the owners and visitors to these establishments? That’s not all. Have the two multiplexes in the complex reserved parking space for the visitors as per the laws and rules in force governing theatres?
A visit to the Osia Commercial Complex would reveal there’s only a strip of parking space allotted for vehicular parking both in front and rear side of the building, throwing up a simple question “ whether the parking space in front and rear side of the building is adequate as per the rules to meet the requirements of these hundreds of establishments, besides the two multiplexes?
Further questions are also raised whether adequate parking space has been reserved for the hundreds, if not thousands of customers visiting the retail fish, vegetable, fruit and meat market in the PDA complex every day. For, the SGPDA has further resolved to introduce pay-parking on the spacious land opposite the vegetable shed, which was initially acquired with the avowed objective of shifting the Margao pick-up stand from the new market area.
When these questions were posed to SGPDA Chairman, MLA Krishna Daji Salkar with a plea to shed light on the parking space of the Osia Commercial Complex and the two multiplexes, he only said he would like to seek details from the PDA officials before offering any comments. “I had taken over the reign of SGPDA just two years ago. The Osia Commercial Complex was built around two decades ago. I will check out with the SGPDA officials whether the Osia Commercial Complex has reserved parking as per the rules in force. I will also find out whether permissions for the buildings, including permission for the building housing the multiplex was granted by showing parking provision on the PDA ground,” Salkar added.
Govt offices housed in Osia Complex
If sources are to be believed, the decision to shift some of the government offices in the Osia commercial complex was taken during the rule of former Chief Minister late Manohar Parrikar when Margao MLA Digambar Kamat was a Minister in the Cabinet. The SGPDA office, which was then functioning from an old building at Pajifond, was also shifted into the commercial complex.
How the Osia Complex took concrete shape on PDA land
If sources are to be believed, the Osia Commercial Complex was allotted around 7,500-odd square metres of land acquired by the SGPDA in lieu of building the PDA mega market complex sheds in the complex. Sources further informed that the Osia Commercial Complex was given around 2.5 FAR by the PDA to build the mega commercial structures. Questions, however, remains unanswered whether the complex has adequate provision for parking space inside the complex for the visitors to the commercial establishments and government offices.
