Team Herald
CALANGUTE: The Calangute Constituency Forum (CCF) has claimed that the redrawn outline development plan (ODP) 2025 for Baga, Calangute, would lead to destruction of the Baga hillock, at Calangute.
Speaking to reporters on Saturday, CCF President Premanand Divkar said the new ODP which had been made following a large number of objections to the earlier draft ODP has gone from ‘bad to worse’.
“When the old ODP had been prepared, there were certain officers in the Town and Country Planning Department (TCP) who had formed a committee to review the ODP following objections.”
“They said the old ODP is destructive and drew a new plan and it has gone from bad to worse. What was a no-development zone (NDZ) has been made settlement and roads have been shown on the hill,” he said.
“This ODP is planned to further damage the ecological balance of the coastal environment with massive destruction of hills and fields. There is a lack of vision in planning our coastal villages through ODP 2025. We want an inquiry into this plan,” CCF members said.
The CCF said, “The Baga hill is one of its kind where you find more than 36 different species of migratory birds and has always been a hotspot for bird watching. It was rich in biodiversity and medicinal plants. But the builders lobby with blessings from government authorities and political leaders have destroyed the biodiversity, age-old medicinal plants and surrounding environment for their greed.”
The Forum said they would be writing to the Chief Minister and other authorities for an inquiry into the ODP.
It may be recalled that in January 2019, after noticing that some trees had been cut and vegetation cleared to create a 10-metre-wide access road to private properties atop the hill, the CCF had complained to the Arpora-Nagoa Panchayat.
The road had been marked in the draft outline development plan for Calangute in 2016 as an access to ‘Jesus Divine Centre’, a proposed religious institution that also figured in the ODP.
Villagers, however, questioned the need for such a centre. While contending that the popular Xavier Retreat House is located on the same hill just a short distance away from the proposed centre, they alleged that the project was proposed to facilitate the construction of the road along the length of the hill for the benefit of real estate projects.
