The Margao Municipal Council has, on Tuesday, resolved to support the writ petition filed against the Margao Outline Development Plan (ODP) amidst hesitation expressed by some of the councillors. The MMC has also agreed to the fact in the petition that the ODP was a singular execution and not a consultative process. Now, the Court will decide the fate of the ODP at SGPDA.
The MMC Chairperson, Babita Angle, said the Tuesday’s meeting was called because of the writ petition filed by the United Goans Front (UGF) and the MMC has been made an impleader into the petition. The MMC has informed that they have decided to support the petitioner on the ground of non consultation to the council.
“We have to file an affidavit as last time we discussed it was known that the local councillors and the MMC were not taken into consultation in the ODP process,” said the MMC chairperson.
However, there were doubts raised by the councillors whether to send a resolution supporting the petition or to let the administration correspond in the matter. The chairperson said “We have consulted the High Court advocate. He said that we can have a say as impleader in the case.”
Councillor Ketan Kurtarkar said, “We don’t want to be party to the case”.
Meanwhile the petitioner in his writ claimed that the “GDP 2026 is prepared without consultation with the local authority i.e, Margao Municipal Council, as required under Section 39(1) of TCP Act 1974. As per Section 22(C) the functions 85 powers of PDA is to prepare a Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP) after conducting surveys 85 preparing reports of such surveys, which is not complied” says UGF.
UGF also says that as per Section 31, every PDA shall prepare alter consultation with MMC, a GDP and submit it to the Government through a Board for provisional approval. No GDP has been prepared by SGPDA anytime in their history, all ODPs Margao are illegal, says UGF.
The Writ Petition also says that as per provision of TCP Act 1974, the GDP 2026 is to be prepared after obtaining data/ inputs from various departments such as TCP Department regarding Sub Division of Land/open spaces, hilly lands showing steep slopes with Contours, Agriculture Department, PWD, Konkan Railway, Coastal Regulation (CRZ) HTL of 0-100 mts along River Sal, WRD, Survey 85 Land Records, Irrigation Department, WRD, Administrator of Comunidade, Revenue Department, Land Acquisition, etc. “Since the GDP 2026 was drafted without obtaining any data from the above departments, actual site conditions on ODP 2026 differ from Google images/GPS,” claimed UGF.
The petitioner Ashish Kamat said that the ODP is only of Zone changes as the fact that consultation and suggestion from WRD, PWD, MMC, Konkan Railway are not on record, makes it a non consultative ODP.
Now with the MMC so much against the passage of the ODP and a writ petition to add to the soup the ODP of Margao is bound to get held up. The MMC will now present its side through an affidavit at the Court who will then decide the fate of the meeting of SGPDA and the ultimate fate of the ODP.
