Calangute MLA Michael Lobo reined in his mounting ambition to be the master of all he surveys in Calangute, and out put on hold his pet plans to convert Calangute and Candolim into ODP areas. Though he reasoned that work on Taleigao and Mapusa needed to be completed first before moving village panchayat areas of Calangute and Candolim into the category of urban areas, under the North Goa Planning and Development Authority (NGPDA), which he heads; his political instinct for survival led him to do hold the ODP plan.
Sensing mounting public discontent, which Herald tapped, stating in its editorial of July 5 that Lobo was digging his political grave by pushing the villages under the Outline Development Plan, Lobo decided to be pragmatic, displaying political deftness of a rare kind. He has pulled back, cleverly saying that the plan is on hold, to buy time and wait for the heat to die down.
The villages of Calangute and Candolim have collapsed under the weight of so called development and constructions. There is no space to breathe, walk or drive. There is garbage piled up and sewage overflowing. The space on the roads is getting narrower. Roads rampantly dug to lay lines and cables for more facilities, are crumbling. And the roads, apart from the ones showcased for window dressing, are an absolute nightmare. In this backdrop, the decision to move these villages to an ODP area came an as absolute shock, because the perception is that the already urbanised coastal villages are being pushed under the administrative control of a body that is a catalyst for urban growth, whose tentacles spread into the very core of small villages which are being ruined with each passing day.
The Regional Plan 2021 came as great big hope for the locals to have greater control over the plans for their village. They waited for over three years for the suspended RP 2021 to come back to the villages, so that the suggestions they once gave would be implemented, especially the ones to leave some open spaces and not turn everything onto concrete. People still have expectations from the Regional Plan. People still hope that the unbridled construction plans that are on the anvil will stop once the Regional Plan is finalised. Many do not even know that construction deals based on how plans would be manipulated have already been struck -and Michael Lobo alone can’t be blamed here- and hope that the final RP would stop all that.
The decision to put on hold the move to shove Candolim and Calangute into the ambit of the ODP, will also put on hold the anger of the locals. The firm gram sabha resolutions passed by both the villages to oppose the ODP would have also played a part. At this juncture no political party, especially a minority BJP MLA, can afford to play with peoples sentiments. Mr Lobo, to be fair to him, has been one of the most pro-active MLA’s who has made serious interventions for his people. However if he had gone ahead with his ODP mission, he would have committed political hara-kiri. But the danger isn’t over yet. He has just called it off and there is every possibility that after Taleigao and Mapusa are opened up, Lobo would be forced by his party to go back to the ODP route.
Therefore the people of these villages need to keep eternal vigil and carry on the discourse and the public movement against the spectre of the Outline Development Plan which would be a noose around the neck of locals. Herald, as always, will be with the people of both villages.
