‘New devpt plan for Calangute, Baga will destroy verdant hill’

Calangute: The Calangute Constituency Forum (CCF) said the new Outline Development Plan (ODP) for Calangute-Baga, which had been made following a number of objections to the earlier draft ODP, would lead to planned destruction of the eco-fragile Baga hillock spread across Calangute, Arpora and Anjuna.
Talking to media at Baga on Saturday, CCF president Premanand Divkar said, “This ODP is totally in the interest of the builders’ lobby. There is a lack of vision in planning our coastal villages through the ODP 2025. There are no positive changes considered by the review committee, but it is planned to further damage the ecological balance of the coastal environment with massive destruction of hills and fields.”
CCF members said the chief minister, the chief secretary and other authorities should conduct an inquiry into this plan.
“In 2018, the CCF had raised the issue of protection of hills and biodiversity. Withdrawing the old ODP 2025, setting up a review committee to look into it and preparing a new ODP was just an eye-wash. Entire planning process was done without application of mind and in a haphazard way to give good space for the developers,” the CCF stated.
The forum said that 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 the government authorities and political leaders, have destroyed the biodiversity, age-old medicinal plants and the environment for their greed,” the CCF stated.