Two statements by CM said it all- ‘people opposing IIT have Portuguese mind set’ and ‘those files did not come to me directly’. These utterances cannot be permitted to go unnoticed. The foundation of land abuse lies there.
The Town & Country planning law is become a chess board of ‘quid pro quo’ in changing Goa’s landscape. After taking over as the TCP Minister, Vishwajit Rane became the darling of the civil society as he went for Michael Lobo’s neck on the irregularities in the Parra-Arpora-Nagoa ODP and charged the then leader of opposition of using public office for personal gain. Immediately thereafter the same TCP minister was at the receiving end of the same section and had to bow down to public anger. He not only scrapped the proposed far reaching amendments to TCP Act but went ahead and proposed to delete the draconian and illegitimate Sec. 16B from the TCP Act.
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The TCP minister’s new pointsman Vinayak Bharne claims that the planning process in Goa is reactionary. It is said a section of society does not want development of Goa (Portuguese mindset!) They see all development negatively. The withdrawal of the recent TCP amendments, scrapping of the Regional Plan 2011 doing away with the SEZs and opposition to three linear projects are seen through that prism. They saw to it that Nylon 66 is driven out. Now there is opposition to Goa being a coal corridor. They ask, what do Goans want?
Goa is what it is due to its nature-beaches on the western side, forest cover on the eastern side. Orchards and rice field making up the land scape of villages. Goa has a land area of over 3,70,200 hectares of which around 60% is covered with forest and tree cover. The CZ notification of 1991 restricts development within 500 mts of the coastal. Land in Goa is in short supply. The pressure on land has never been greater. Change of land use is required to transform natural landscape for functional use of land for housing and other commercial activities. Urbanisation and deforestation are the bye products of that process called development. Conversion of land may accelerate real estate market and economic activity. Protecting the environment may slow down that pace. Change in land use is bound to disturb the existing eco system as landscape changes from agricultural to settlement and commercial. But that is evitable. The Goan economy can accelerate only if the change in land use is transparently managed.
Land and black money are so inextricably mixed that it impacts the lopsided way we look at development of Goa. How change of land use is done, whether through the regional plan or beyond the RP or through Sec 16B route, is known to all. Goa is too small a place for people not to know how much is under the table rate per square metre and whom that’s paid. Goans no longer trust their land planners. Public confidence in governance is shattered when it comes to land use. All opposition to any major infrastructural or industrial projects is over land. The change of land use, instead of facilitating economic growth has become the greatest barrier. The story if Goa’s development is massive quid pro quo in land deals and abuse of power that suited the real estate giants, builders’ lobby that is neither bothered about the economy nor the environment. Land has become an unending source of black money. A few days back when a former TCP minister accused the government of Rs 2,000 crores land scam in conversion of land under Sec. 16B of the TCP Act, all that the CM said was that ‘those files did not come to me directly’. That sums up the Goa story of development and indeed its misery.
As part of a developing State with progressive outlook, there cannot be any stifling of economic growth and progress. With the backbone of Goa’s economy the mining industry closed with no immediate signs of revival. Tourism must be encouraged but while incentivising we cannot afford to lose sight of the carrying capacity of the State where a 15 lakh population is burdened with over 90 lakh tourists. Without a white paper on what Goa can hold, the question of incentivising additional FAR for hotels to have more rooms and more amenities on available land is certainly thoughtless planning.
Certain vested interest sitting outside the State with eye on Goa’s real estate are planning for Goa. In a State where the government finds it difficult to find a place for IIT, the TCP Minister has the audacity to plan a golf course and a film city. What role Goa TCP Department personnel had in proposing film city or a golf course is known to all? Rumours of a Telugu lead actor and Delhi-based vested interest groups planning for Goa look realistic. In fact the 2011 regional plan was outsourced to a Delhi agency. The State would have painted pink by now, had it not been the alert civil society. Vinayak Bharne now tells us that Goa has an opportunity to transform Goa by collaborative visioning. That is what the Goans have been demanding for the past more than a decade and a half.
The Xaxtti-led Goan civil society has scored a few goals. Government had to bow down to public sentiments in the last 15 years. But for how long the civil society shall remain in agitational mode to protect what is left. As the government woos investors with Investment Promotion Board (IPB) having powers to pursue land conversion sanads and change in land use, it appears citizens will not get to enjoy their susegado lifestyle. Eternal vigilance is the price to save Goa.
(The writer is a practising advocate and a political thinker)
