Calangute and Candolim land plan notified

Panaji: Notwithstanding objections, the North Goa Planning and Development Authority (NGPDA) on Friday notified the outline development plan (ODP) 2025 for Calangute-Candolim. Copies of the plan are available for public inspection at the Arpora-Nagoa, Calangute and Candolim panchayats, and also at the NGPDA office in Mala, Panaji.

NGPDA member-secretary, R K Pandita, said the ODP had been notified under Section 37(1) of the Town and Country Planning Act. “The ODP shall be subject to the provisions of the Goa Land Development and Building Regulations, 2010, as amended from time to time,” Pandita said in the notification.

With spaces earmarked for parking, rainwater harvesting and educational institutions in comunidade land, the ODP has even allocated an area for solid waste management. Critics, however, have argued that the plan allows for construction of hotels in eco-sensitive zones. The Calangute-Candolim ODP 2025 was submitted to the TCP board for consideration under Section 36 of the TCP Act, and was subsequently approved at a board meeting held on October 15. Official government sanction was conveyed by chief town planner, Rajesh Naik, on Wednesday, following which the plan was notified.

Villagers of Candolim and Calangute have been demanding that the plan be scrapped and that the entire coastal tourist belt be denotified as a planning area.

TCP minister Vijai Sardesai has, however, refused to accede to this demand.