Team Herald
PANJIM: The High Court of Bombay at Goa on Thursday issued a notice to the State government in a plea filed by the Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP) challenging the notification of the Outline Development Plan (ODP) 2021 for Panjim.
The writ petition filed by City Mayor Surendra Furtado and Deputy Mayor Lata Parekh, along with 14 councilors from the ruling panel, has prayed for quashing of the ‘impugned notification’ dated December 27, 2016 that notified Panjim ODP alleging that the plan is not in public interest.
“Pending the hearing and disposal of the petition, for an ad-interim order or directions, we prayed to restrain the respondents – State government, North Goa Planning and Development Authority (NGPDA), Town and Country Planning (TCP) and CCP – from giving effect to the Panjim ODP-2021 and stay the same,” the petitioners pleaded.
Addressing media persons after the first hearing, Furtado said that the Court has issued a notice to State government and NGPDA seeking their reply on the petition within two weeks. “We informed the Court how the urban local body was not taken into confidence while drafting the ODP for the city,” he said adding that the writ petition has been filed by the Mayor and his councilors.
“There has been no consultation at all obtained from the local authority, namely CCP, as mandated under the CCP Act,” the petition stated, informing about various communications made to TCP and NGPDA by the Mayor complaining about the faulty procedure.
Furtado said that through the writ petition he wants to send a clear signal to the government not to take the corporation for granted. “Once the new government is formed, we will ensure that the ODP is scrapped and a new people-centric plan is drafted in consultation with all stakeholders,” he said.
Submitting details of sequence of events, right from the TCP decision to direct NGPDA to undertake alteration of ODP to notifying the development plan, the petitioners alleged that the entire exercise carried out under Section 39 of the TCP Act is an exercise purportedly carried out in great haste and hurry.
“The entire exercise appears to be an exercise meant to give benefit and distribute benefit to few individuals and favour them on the eve of elections of the Legislative Assembly, held on February 4, as the chairman of the so-called committee appointed by NGPDA is the MLA of Panjim. And the decision to notify the ODP on the eve of declaration of State Assembly election at the fag end of the term of the present government in power, justifies and makes obvious the short circuiting of law to get a plan notified in purported pursuance of the provision of Section 39 of TCP Act,” the petition reads.
“The revision of entire Panjim ODP was necessitated to envision the concept and ethos of the Smart City for the paradigm change in the urban form and urbanism,” it added.
The petitioner has pointed out that the new ODP has proposed increase in FAR from existing 100 percent (S-1) and 0.80 percent (S-2) to 200 percent in the settlement zone while 300 percent is recommended in the commercial zone against the existing FAR of 200 per cent.
The ODP proposes two multi-storey parking facilities in the city – the current food corporation of India premises near Junta House and government garages and petrol pump premises on the 18 June road, as the city is in drastic need of resolving parking crisis. The ODP has also proposed re-drawing of conservation boundary of Panjim, Ribandar, Mala and Altinho, which is in periphery of the conservation boundary and demarcation of multi-level car park facility near Santa Monica jetty as Commercial zone and reclassification of KTC bus stand as Commercial C-1 zone instead of traffic and Transportation Zone, also highlights in the ODP.
