MARGAO
The controversial Margao Master Plan 2041 has once again come back to haunt Madgaonkars.
Consider this: At the June 19 public presentation on the Master Plan, where citizens questioned the omission of Margao’s South Zone from the proceedings, Mumbai-based consultant Studio Pod claimed in its response that the South Zone was no longer part of the Master Plan.
During the presentation held at the Margao Municipal Hall on June 19, Studio Pod Director Mahesh Waghdare made no mention of the various proposals outlined in the Master Plan for Margao’s South Zone. His silence had raised eyebrows among participants familiar with the drafts of the plan.
However, a written reply submitted in the ongoing session of the Goa Legislative Assembly paints a completely different picture. In a categorical response to a Legislative Assembly Question (LAQ), the reply clearly stated: “The South Zone is not dropped from the Margao Master Plan.” The question had sought details, including copies of all noting, correspondence, and other documentation related to the supposed exclusion of the South Zone from the plan.
This contradiction raises serious and contentious questions: Did the consultant intentionally withhold information about the South Zone proposals from the public? Was this omission a unilateral decision by the consultant, or were they acted under instructions from higher authorities and the powers that be? Even assuming that the proposals in the South Zone were not dropped, why were the details not shared with the participants at the PowerPoint presentation specifically held to explain the salient features of the draft Master Plan for Margao?
For, when The Goan has posed a pointed question to the consultant as to why his PowerPoint presentation was silent on Margao’s South Zone, he was categorical in saying that the South Zone does not figure in the presentation. The Goan had posed the specific query to the consultant for the simple reason that when a similar presentation was made in the same Margao Municipal hall more than a year ago on January 17, 2024, details and proposals in respect of South Zone were explained to the participants, including the Margao Municipal councillors.
Master Plan envisions South Zone as innovation and transit node
MARGAO: Even as questions may be raised why the consultant did not explain the salient features of the Master Plan for Margao vis-Ã -vis South Zone during the June 19 PowerPoint presentation, a glance at the proposals for South Zone shows that the Master Plan envisions the area as a new economic node, connected to the city through a proposed transit loop.
In fact, of all the three zones, North, Central and South in the Master Plan, a host of proposals have been made in the South Zone. The innovation hub proposed in the South Zone is expected to include facilities for retail, art and culture, entertainment, incubation, innovation labs, hospitality, and multipurpose use.
All these economic activities are proposed in the vast tracts of land opposite the Margao railway station. While major chunk of the land opposite the Margao railway station is owned by private owners, an area admeasuring 28,000 sqm is owned by the Goa State Urban Development Agency (GSUDA).
While it’s unclear whether the activities proposed in the Master Plan will come up on the GSUDA acquired land, it’s a fact that the GSUDA acquired land has already got the zone of the land to commercial zone despite the fact that the tenants have been cultivating the fields non-stop over the last two decades.
This has only thrown up a contentious question “ whether the government will bulldoze its way and displace the farmers from the tenanted agricultural fields when the courts have time and again intervened to stop conversion of tenanted lands to non-agricultural purpose.
Master Plan for South Zone
