Goemkarponn Desk
PANAJI: The Town and Country Planning (TCP) Act was hastily amended, according to the Goa Bachao Abhiyan (GBA), who claim that the addition of Section 39A will allow backdoor entry for the conversion of Goa’s lands for private and commercial interests. The public interest provision has been deleted.
The High Court’s order, dated February 14, 2024, revealed that the defunct Outline Development Plans (ODPs) of Calangute-Candolim, Parra-Arpora, and Nagoa villages had been subjected to mass conversions at the instigation of politicians through blatantly illegal activity.
It stated that the current Master Regional Plan serves as the foundation for ODP planning, and that Chief Town Planner Rajesh Naik’s actions transcended his authority, converting eco-zones under the Regional Plan 2021 into settlement.
The GBA has welcomed the High Court order staying such illegal actions, adding that the GBA had always advocated the requirement that all plans must follow the Regional Plan in force.
The GBA has observed that approximately seven crore square metres of land that fraudulently appeared in the scrapped Regional Plan 2011 keeps coming back through various cut-paste measures.
Multiple amendments to the TCP Act such as 16b, 17(2) and now 39A, including arbitrary tweaking of built-up areas in various by-laws and building codes seek to do this by converting eco-zones to settlement.
GBA convenor Sabina Martins said that the law department seems incapable of advising the government forcing hapless citizens to move through courts at great expense.
The GBA denounced the wastage of public money and use of the TCP department to align with introduction and withdrawal of ill-founded amendments every few years.
Martins said that Amendment 16b was withdrawn, but 17(2) and now 39A continue to serve high net-worth individuals and real estate interests as can be seen from the names of the applicants.
The GBA has called upon the public to oppose section 39A and demanded that officers exposed of corruption be relieved of duty and punished with immediate effect. Both actions are required to bring back confidence of law and order, for protection of Goa’s fragile lands and sustainable future for her people, Martins said.
