Goa: 400 FAR to Kadamba plateau attracts bouquets, brickbats

Times of India | 1 month ago | 21-05-2022 | 01:02 am

Goa: 400 FAR to Kadamba plateau attracts bouquets, brickbats

Panaji: The town and country planning (TCP) department’s move to permit an FAR of 400 for the Kadamba plateau has drawn both flak and support. While Goa Bachao Abhiyan (GBA) has criticised the move, calling it a “disaster in the making”, Credai said that TCP’s decision is a step towards planned development. However, while encouraging the development of Kadamba plateau as a satellite township of Panaji, Credai added a rider and said that clear guidelines and transparency need to be ensured. The TCP board met on Tuesday, where TCP minister Vishwajit Rane decided to increase the permissible FAR on Kadamba Plateau to 400. GBA said that the idea of taking pressure off congested areas like Panaji makes sense, but jumping straight to FAR of 400 would lead to a concrete jungle. “This is something that even Noida does not have, picture the disaster in the making. Concentration of concrete creates heat islands that are unbearable in today’s heat waves, which are only set to get worse in India,” said GBA convenor Sabina Martins. FAR, or Floor to Area Ratio, is a measure of how much can be built on a plot of land. While urban areas like Panaji have an FAR of 250, cities like Mumbai, Bangalore and Noida provide between 133 and 350 FAR. Credai president Nilesh Salkar disagreed with GBA’s stand. “Kadamba plateau, being in the nascent stage of development that it is, has scope to a well-planned infrastructure with systematic development. Considering the fact that the government plans to use professional planning agencies, it can become a landmark location. So keeping a 400 FAR would make a lot of sense,” said Salkar. GBA remains skeptical, arguing that the state has yet to learn from the mistakes of the Regional Plan exercise. “It is critical to have a 10-year master plan that fits in all the requirements. Cease random decisions and follow a proper planning process for a Regional Plan,” said Reboni Saha, the GBA general secretary. GBA wants the TCP department to withdraw its decisions, particularly the move to increase the permissible FAR for hotels. Salkar said that as long as the state government frames clear guidelines for allotting FAR and allots additional FAR in a transparent manner, Credai sees no problem.

Google Follow Image


Similar News

Security beefed up outside Goa hotel ahead of Eknath Shinde-led rebel camp’s arrival
The Indian Express | 14 hours ago | 29-06-2022 | 10:40 pm
The Indian Express
14 hours ago | 29-06-2022 | 10:40 pm

Security has been tightened outside the Taj Resort and Convention Centre in Goa’s Dona Paula ahead of the arrival of rebel Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde and MLAs backing him. The rebel leaders will fly to Mumbai Thursday to take part in the floor test at the Maharashtra legislative assembly.The Shinde faction, which is set to break away from Shiv Sena and stake claim to form the government in Maharashtra with the BJP, is expected to arrive in Goa late evening after a long stay in Guwahati.The rebel MLAs took off from Guwahati even as Shiv Sena’s petition challenging the floor test called on Thursday by Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari was being heard in the Supreme Court. Flying in closer to Mumbai on a special Spice Jet flight, Panaji will be the third stop for the breakaway legislators in the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in Maharashtra. While initially they had reached Surat, they later shifted to Guwahati and will now reach Panaji.The sea-facing hotel located in the posh Dona Paula area near Panaji is a short distance from the Goa Raj Bhavan. “On Wednesday evening, there was heavy police deployment outside the hotel with over 100 rooms booked for the Shinde camp and their aides,” said sources.As tourists milled around the hotel lobby Wednesday, sources added that armed officers of the Goa Police kept vigil at the hotel. Outside, there was heavy barricading on what was an overcast Wednesday afternoon.Sources also said that senior police officers of the Goa Police also reviewed the security arrangements at the five-star hotel Wednesday evening.The Goa Police have also strengthened its checks at its northern border at Patradevi. Goa shares a border with Sindhudurg district of Maharashtra. Shiv Sena MLA from Sidhudurg Vaibhav Naik is backing Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray while senior Shiv Sena leader and MLA from Sawantwadi Deepak Kesarkar is among the rebels with Shinde.

Security beefed up outside Goa hotel ahead of Eknath Shinde-led rebel camp’s arrival
Assembly archives intact, CM misguided: Goa Speaker
The Indian Express | 1 day ago | 28-06-2022 | 10:40 pm
The Indian Express
1 day ago | 28-06-2022 | 10:40 pm

Goa Assembly Speaker Ramesh Tawadkar on Tuesday said that archives of the state Assembly were intact and that Chief Minister Pramod Sawant may have been “misguided” when he said that records of the House from 1963 to 2000 were destroyed.On Monday, Sawant had said that records of the Assembly’s first session in 1963, and up to 2000, were destroyed when the Assembly was relocated from Adil Shah Palace in Panaji to Porvorim in 2000.“I wanted to preserve them, but they were destroyed. I am sorry, this should not have happened. Since 2000, we are preserving the records and their digitisation is being done,” Sawant had said on Monday while addressing the opening of a training programme for MLAs ahead of the monsoon session next month.On Tuesday, Tawadkar told The Indian Express, “The statement is incorrect. Somebody has misguided him (Sawant). All our documents are intact. Nothing has been destroyed.”Sawant, who was the Speaker in 2017, had said, “Old records of the Assembly proceedings, including speeches of Goa’s first chief minister, Dayanand Bandodkar, were destroyed when the Secretariat was shifted from the Adil Shah Palace building to the new complex in 2000.”Tawadkar, however, said that all documents, including Bandodkar’s speeches, questions and answers, and proceedings of the Assembly were available in digitised form. He also said, “I have told him (CM Sawant) that somebody has misguided him. The statement is not correct.”

Assembly archives intact, CM misguided: Goa Speaker
Goa International Film Festival of India 2014 | ‘Irregularities’ in IFFI spending: Police told to file FIR
The Indian Express | 1 week ago | 20-06-2022 | 03:40 am
The Indian Express
1 week ago | 20-06-2022 | 03:40 am

A local court in Panaji has asked the Goa police to file in a case of alleged financial irregularities in the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) held in Goa in 2014.In a complaint filed in 2015, Goa Forward Party (GFP) General Secretary (Organisation) Durgadas Kamat had  alleged illegalities in the bills raised for IFFI causing a loss of Rs 5 crore to the state exchequer. He said he filed a private complaint before the magistrate after the police did not act on his complaint.“The allegations made in the complaint are of serious nature involving huge money and therefore, the respondent is required to do detailed investigations based on documentary evidence available. The manner in which the inquiry already done by the respondent appears to be mere eye wash and not seriously done. The authority under which said inquiry done is also not known,” wrote Chief Judicial Magistrate, ‘A’ Court, Panaji Ram Subrai Prabhu Dessai, in his six-page order of June 8.🚨 Limited Time Offer | Express Premium with ad-lite for just Rs 2/ day 👉🏽 Click here to subscribe 🚨The court ordered that an FIR under sections 408 (criminal breach of trust by public servant) and 419 (cheating with knowledge of wrongful loss) be registered. “I find that there is absolute need for thorough investigation in the matter in order to unearth the truth in respect of the allegations made in the complaint,” the magistrate said.On April 6, the court had asked the state government to produce all the case files related to this complaint. The court was informed that they were handed to a special public prosecutor who died in 2018. The court noted that the special public prosecutor died and “the case papers remained with him and inspite of efforts made by the police the file could not be traced.” The court said that there was no documentary evidence to show that the files were handed over to the prosecutor and it was not the specific case of the police that the files of the case were destroyed.“Even otherwise, during the pendency of the present proceedings, the respondent ought not to have destroyed the records pertaining to the investigation in this crime. It is also not the case of the respondent that final report has been filed in the said crime and therefore, the question of destruction of the investigation papers does not arise at all,” the court said.The court also asked the police to file a monthly report in the case.

Goa International Film Festival of India 2014 | ‘Irregularities’ in IFFI spending: Police told to file FIR
Tagged: