While Calangute has been temporarily spared, the reopening of the Mapusa and the Taleigao Outline Development Plans have met the desired objectives of the lobby of builders and the North Goa Planning and Development Authority. While no one had any doubt about the real intention of reopening ODP’s – or in Calangute’s case bringing the village into an ODP area – the revelation of the extent to which conversions have been sought from agricultural to non-agricultural land, is shocking.
As we have reported today,almost each of the 510 “suggestions” and “objections” that have been received for the Mapusa and Taleigao ODP’s have been either for increasing the FAR of a plot, or for conversion from agricultural to non-agricultural land. In Taleigao, the process is so set, that builders who have eyed prime agricultural land for conversion for construction, have gone and constructed boards announcing the project even before the actual conversions have happened. This is because institutions like the Town and Country Planning Development, the panchayats and the Planning and Development Authorities, have become merely last mile bodies where the pre-decided file comes only for an official stamp and signature. The control lies with the local MLA and the Minister who works with a well- established system of middlemen agents or touts. This has become a parallel system where those seeking conversions line up at the agents office. The agent has all records and gives advice on areas which can be easily converted and those which cannot. But nothing is impossible in this system. The formula, is more the difficulty level, the greater the amount that has to be spent.
The ODP’s therefore, are a much easier proposition to deal with than the Regional Plan, for instance. And the most realistic reason for this is that in the villages of Goa, informed awareness and the will to protest and sustain these protests is far greater. In towns, specially Taleigao, Mapusa, Vasco etc, have a mix of outside population, local builders and local MLAs, all having a vested interest in these conversions.
For instance, 240 suggestions and objections for the Mapusa ODP and 270 for the Taleigao ODP have been received. In Taleigao almost all the applications have sought conversion of institutional and agricultural land into settlement.There are also applications that have asked for additional FAR. In Mapusa, there is specific information that of the 240 suggestions, 238 of them are for conversions from agricultural land to non-agricultural land (read “for construction”).
The only way to stop this runaway conversion train is to bring all areas, including urban ones into the ambit of the Regional Plan. There can be two different yardsticks of measurement in urban and rural areas taking into account the population, existing land use and projected land use but there should be one department which will control the process for all land and development. Plans for both towns and villages should be discussed in public and then formally sent to the village panchayats or the concerned council or corporation (Panjim) for discussion at the people’s level.
The current sprit of planning leaves out the common people who have right to use the land and infrastructure in the villages and towns. The ideal spirit which is also bound by the letter of the law is to take planning to the people. But then, if that happens the established business of agents, touts and local representatives may have to declare bankruptcy and closure.
The current ODP’s of Mapusa and Taleigao should be scrapped and a thorough investigation conducted on these conversion requests, the parties which have asked for these conversions and the hidden interest of key politicians in getting those conversions passed. You’ll be shocked to know that the JICA bribery scam will look like a teddy bear’s picnic compared to the pay-offs in land conversions.
