PANAJI
The Town and Country Planning Department is in a bind over a fiat contained in a recent letter from the State government’s own WRD to denotify the Tillari command area from non-agriculture zones in the outline development plan (ODP) of Arpora-Nagoa-Parra planning area.
The direction to denotify these areas from the ODP were contained in the letter sent to the Chief Town Planner (Planning) Rajesh Naik by the WRD’s executive engineer, Milind Gaude on August 4.
Gaude said in the letter that inspection of a large tract of land in Nagoa village (Survey no. 28/16) about which a complaint was received regarding an illegal structure, it was seen that it “falls within the command area of Tillari irrigation project”.
“It is kindly requested to denotify the ODP in respect of command area in order to restrict secondary development,” Gaude said in the letter.
The controversial Arpora-Nagoa-Parra ODP had shot in the news soon after the Pramod Sawant-led government took office post the 2022 assembly elections when TCP Minister Vishwajit Rane, suspended the planning document and launched a no-holds-barred tirade against the then Leader of Opposition Michael Lobo alleging large scale violation of land use laws.
Rane had also set up a probe committee of TCP officers which had claimed to have dug out large scale irregularities in finalising the ODPs of the two Calangute-Candolim and Arpora-Nagoa-Parra planning areas.
