Goemkarponn desk
PANAJI: Town and Country Planning (TCP) Minister Vishwajit Rane today announced that the Pernem Zoning Plan has been kept in abeyance.
“The zoning plan of Pernem will be kept in abeyance. We will take people into confidence. I have held a discussion with CM and central leadership. The plan has been kept in abeyance after discussions with Union Home Minister Amit Shah,” said Rane.
He further said that the people of Pernem will be taken into confidence before finalising or going ahead with any plan.
“The people should not feel that we are bypassing them and going ahead with any plan. We want to keep it transparent. Some people come up with anything just for political gains,” he added.
“When I went to Pernem taluka, people demanded that their houses should be included in the plan. We have tried to incorporate all the assurances given earlier and will try to incorporate the rest of the assurances,” the TCP Minister said.
Rane said that this plan was never to be prepared by taking in vested interests on board but we will be taking the people into confidence.
The Geographic Information System (GIS) based Pernem zoning plan prepared by the TCP Department had evoked mixed reactions in the Pernem taluka with the local MLA Arolkar and other activists alleging that it was drafted mainly to benefit builders and the real estate lobby rather than the people and had demanded to scrap it.
The villagers had also demanded an extension of time to submit their suggestions and objections alleging that the Pernem deputy town planner was visiting the office twice a week and the plan was accessible to them only during his presence.
The villagers had even threatened to block the Chopdem-Siolim bridge if their demands to extend the time for suggestions and objections were not met.
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