Tuesday 01 Jul 2025

South Zone with fields and land around finds no mention in Master Plan for Margao 2041

Mysterious exclusion of the South Zone leaves farmers, activists and citizens worried

GUILHERME ALMEIDA | JUNE 29, 2025, 11:49 PM IST

Farmers from Rawanfond engaged in sowing operations on the GSUDA-acquired fields opposite the Margao railway station.

Photo Credits: Santosh Mirajkar

MARGAO

It was a quiet Sunday morning. A group of farmers went about sowing paddy on the sprawling lush green fields located opposite the Margao railway station – land they and their ancestors have tilled non-stop over the decades.

Beneath this age-old tradition, however, lies a persistent unease  and a question troubling the beleaguered farmers for the last two decades – will the government eventually displace them from the land of their ancestors to make way for commercial projects on the paddy fields?

Their fears are not completely unfounded and they are rooted in the acquisition of their fields admeasuring 28,000 square metres by the Goa State Urban Development Agency (GSUDA) around 20 years ago.

Well,  while the controversial Master Plan for Margao 2041 makes no mention that these fields and land in the vicinity will play host to commercial, industrial projects opposite the Margao railway station, it has brought little reassurance to the beleaguered farmers that the government will  spare their fields from the proposed development.

In fact, the omission of Margao’s South Zone has raised more questions than answers. Consider this: A glance at the Master Plan for Margao 2041 reveals something strange. For, when the Mumbai-based consultant Studio Pod had made a power point presentation on January 17, 2024, the Master Plan divided the city into three different zones – the North Zone, the central zone and the South Zone.

However, in the power point presentation held on June 19  last, the South Zone is conspicuous by its absence from the Master plan.  In fact, the Master plan does not speak anything on the development in the city’s south zone, on the land opposite the Margao railway station, including the GSUDA-acquired paddy fields admeasuring 28,000 square metres.

The omission of the South Zone from the Master Plan has left not just the farmers, but also social activists and citizens a worried lot, as they try to figure out the reasons behind the mysterious exclusion of the South Zone from the Master Plan.

This has only thrown up a question or two whether the omission of Margao’s South zone from the Master plan is a tactical and strategic move by the powers that be to omit the city’s South zone from the ambit of the master plan to deflate the opposition brewing against the plan, only to reintroduce commercial development at a later stage.

For, farmers cultivating the GSUDA acquired fields had been waging a sustained battle alongside concerned citizens from  Margao and neighbouring Navelim to protect the fields from commercial exploitation in the recent past. In fact, while the GSUDA acquired land has been notified as special commercial zone in the Margao Outline Development plan (ODP)  sustained agitation by the farmers backed by the citizenry has forced GSUDA to stay away from the fields till date.

Says progressive farmer Claudius Dias: Though the proposed development in the Margao South Zone is not reflected in the Master plan, farmers cultivating the GSUDA-acquired fields will lodge their objection to the commercial activities proposed in the fields. These are the only green fields cultivated by farmers in the midst of a concrete jungle. We only hope better sense prevail and the authorities allow the farmers to continue the decades-old traditional activity”.


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