And… now the draft ODP for Margao and Ponda is cleared

This week, the draft Outline Development Plan (ODP) of Margao and Ponda were approved by the South Goa Planning and Development Authority (PDA)and sent to the Town and Country Planning Department (TCP) without any zone changes. The plan will be kept open for objections and suggestions from the public. Needless to say, most of the suggestions will be for changing the zones of private property. This is the extent of Urban planning in our Municipalities.

The expertise of the PDAs as well as the TCP department in the field of Urban Planning has been questioned time and time again. However, the role of the Municipalities (as well as the Corporation) with respect to Urban Planning have to also be critically analysed.

Urban Planning and Municipalities

There are two types of Municipalities in Goa, those which fall under PDA (Panjim, Margao, Vasco, Ponda Mapusa) and those that fall under the TCP (Cuncolim, Quepem, Sanguem, Valpoi, Canacona). The PDAs have been assigned the responsibility of Urban Planning for the first group whereas the TCP is responsible for the Urban Planning of the second group.

This dual system has several problems. The two bodies, the PDAs and the TCP operative very differently. PDAs are governed by a Board which usually comprises of political appointees whereas the TCP has a bureaucratic structure at the taluka level and a TCP board at the State level. PDAs can take quick decision and have the powers to revise the urban plan (land use plan, zone plan or ODP) once in ten years whereas the TCP Board is slower at making decisions and the urban plan (regional plan) is revised after 20 years.

Therefore, the Municipalities under PDAs are growing rapidly while the other set of Municipalities which are under the TCP department have experience slower growth on par or even slower than villages such as Navelim and Calangute.

What does the Law state?

Clause 322B of the Goa Municipalities Act 1968 states that every Council shall constitute a Development Committee consisting of such number of members not exceeding seven as may be prescribed and the Committee constituted shall carry out responsibilities as may be prescribed including those in relation to the matters listed in the Schedule X.

Urban Planning including town planning

On 31st October, the South Goa PDA officials had a meeting with the Margao Municipal Councilors regarding the draft Outline Development Plan. The SGPDA officials had asked the councillors to submit their suggestions that could be incorporated into the plan. While a few councillors like Glen Andrade showed concern about their wards, most of the councillors remained silent spectators. They were given a month to submit their suggestions.

 On Monday (26th November), the Margao Municipality Council passed a resolution granting a NOC for the draft outline development plan.  Just two days later, the SDPDA approved the ODP without any zone changes. 

The few minor changes which were made were related to the width of the roads. This is the extent of the research, analysis and impact study done by the authorities for planning the future development of Margao for the next 10 years. Of course, there will be zone changes based upon suggestions from the public but that cannot be called “planning”. The procedure is followed for other Municipal such as Panjim, Mapusa, Ponda and Vasco.

The question is, why are our Municipalities which include democratically elected representatives of the people, so willingly giving up their duty of urban planning and town planning?

With regards to the Municipalities with fall under the TCP department, the situation is no better. Like other such Municipalities, Cuncolim is a town which is no different from any other neighbouring village. The urban plan (regional plan) for Cuncolim was prepared along with the regional plans for all other villages.  However, while the residents all other villages had the privilege of discussing, debating and even rejecting the regional plan in their respective gramsabha, the people of Cuncolim (and other such Municipalities) could not voice their opinion since Cuncolim does not have a Gramsabha or Nagarsabha.

The point is that in the current system, there is no scope for people’s participation in Urban Planning. This is the root cause of all problems since it is physically not possible for the government to collect data and identify local problems in every corner of the Municipality

Regulation of land-use and construction of buildings

In the recent meeting of the Margao Council, one councillor named Ketak Kurtarkar raised the issue of lack of space in the technical section where files have piled up everywhere and there is hardly any room for the staff to work. The technical section is in charge of inspecting the projects and preparing the report based on which the Municipality grants a Construction license.

The technical section has one of the greatest scopes for corruption. Back in 2016 the Cuncolim Municipality followed a practice where some councillors would take possession of the construction file as soon as the applicant had submitted it to the municipality. The councillors would allegedly demand a bribe to clear the file.

The Mormugao Municipal Council is caught between the ambitions of the Mormugao Port Trust and the health concerns of its citizens. The central government bulldozed a flyover through the city without conducting an impact study on the traffic or sound and air pollution.

These are just a few examples which highlight the fact that Municipalities in Goa have a poor track record of monitoring and regulating the use of land. The relationship between the Municipalities and the TCP/PDA departments have to be studied and their procedures streamlined to reduce duplicity of work and overall time for obtaining approvals.

 Slum improvement and up gradation.

In Goa, slum improvement is a taboo topic. There are several pockets of slums in Margao at Moti Dongor, Khareband, Panjifond, etc but none of the councillors wants to talk about the issues in those slums. During the recent Margao council meeting, none of the councillors recommended that an area in the ODP be declared as a slum rehabilitation area. It comes as no surprise that like Margao, none of the Municipalities have prepared any policy on Slum improvement.

The topic of Slum improvement is extremely divisive. Locals are critical of any such policy and they view it as vote bank politics. Since many slums are on Communidade land, many people view slums as a form of land grab and therefore any form of slum improvement will only encourage the illegality.

But does this mean that the status quo on slums should continue and if so for how long? Since Slum improvement and up gradation is one of the responsibilities of the Municipalities, each municipality has to come up with a clear policy on the issue. Public amenities including street lighting, parking lots, bus stops and public conveniences. 

In 2016 when the Margao ODP was kept open for public suggestions, civil society had come down heavily on the authorities for not identifying and demarcating bus stops in Margao. Buses travelling from KTC Bus Terminus or the Old Market bus stand make several stops along the route before they exit the city while heading towards their destination. However, all these stops are illegal since none of the bus stops is demarcated and notified. Therefore, unfortunately,  every time the bus stops for a passenger, they are breaking the law.

 Municipalities need people’s participation

Anyone who walks in the halls of Margao Municipality will marvel at the architecture of the iconic heritage structure. However, 100 years later the building is grossly inadequate to meet the current requirement for space and functionality. For example, there is no lift to the first floor. Many senior citizens and physically challenged people who want to meet the Chief Officer or the Chairperson have a tough time climbing the stairs. 

On the other hand, the Chief Officer’s anti-encroachment drive has been praised by many but all the goods that were seized are dumped in the corridor at the entrance of the Municipal Building. Many people look at the dump and complain but that’s where public participation ends. In another part of Margao, locals who want to voice their concern regarding overflowing sewage chambers want the media to highlight their plight in hopes that someone will listen.

All these issues have cropped up because there is no scope for public participation in the Municipalities. The Gramsabhas may not be perfect but at least those villagers who love their village, want to see it develop and are concerned about its welfare can meet their elected representatives once in three months and hold them accountable.