MARGAO: Town and Country Planning Minister, Vijai Sardesai has said there is no problem in extending the ongoing land-use plan exercise in the planning areas of Margao and Ponda.
Commenting on the demand of city-based activists to extend time frame for the ongoing exercise, Sardesai said if the activists are demanding extension of time, the PDA can grant additional time for the citizens to lodge their objections. “There cannot be any wrong in the land-use plan. This is not the final plan, don’t be mistaken. Also, don’t mistake the land-use map to the ODP. Land-use map is a process, wherein structures on the ground reflect on the plan,” he said.
Sardesai recalled that the demand for the land-use map was raised by the activists when they had in the past questioned the PDA for finalizing the ODP without the map. “There’s a peculiar demand in Goa. You give what they demand and there’s no end to their demands,” he said, adding that this is perhaps the first time in the history of the SGPDA that a land-use map is being put in place by the PDA to ensure transparency in the planning process.
“We have no intentions to carry out the exercise secretly. I was part of the agitation demanding scrapping of the ODP. To take everyone into confidence, we have even erected a kiosk,” he said.
