It’s all about the land!
Actions and explanations are expected on RP 2021 from the CM, says VENITA COELHO
In Goa it is all about the land. Every scam that surfaces in Goa invariably leads back to a land grab. With land as their only asset, it is what poor Goans sell, what rich Delhiites buy, and what the government does it’s best to acquire by hook and mainly by crook. The biggest land scam of them all was the Regional Plan that was chucked out by the people in 2007. In that disastrous plan, land mafias had managed to get huge tracts of land converted into settlement zone. Now we have a Final RP2021 – which will be the basis of all land use in the future. It’s time to take a long hard look at what this RP2021 does with our land. Is it yet another Trojan Horse, bearing in it’s belly the agenda of the land mafia, the building lobby and the mining gang? It’s even more important to look long and close because the Final RP2021 deviates vastly from the Draft Plan. Just what has been slipped in on us by the State Level Committee (SLC) that finalised the plan? Having had every kind of trick pulled on us in the past, let’s just keep an eye on the land.
The big promise that the government held out to us was that the people through their panchayats would actually have a say in how the future was planned for their land. We were given a choice of how much we wanted our villages built up – those who wanted to preserve their villages could opt for the least FAR in the VP3 category. Obviously far too many villages inconveniently opted for VP3. The category has entirely been removed from the final plan. All of Goa has come under VP1 and VP2. So your land now has a minimum of FAR60 for building – if it doesn’t happen to fall in any of the other new categories that have been introduced.
Lots of new categories have suddenly been introduced that were never there in the draft plan. We now have ‘Non PDA ODP’ areas. We have ‘Zone Plan’ areas. We have been presented with ‘Eco Tourism’ areas, and with a new concept of ‘Micro Industrial Zones’. ODP areas already fall outside the purview of the RP. Now all of these other areas will follow. It’s a neat trick. Slap in some new designations – and pull all of that land out from under the jurisdiction of the RP. So we now have a Final RP – and it doesn’t apply to more than half of Goa.
Since we’re keeping an eye on the land – let’s see what rules will apply to all these areas that have been yanked out from the RP. ‘Eco Tourism’ areas will fall under ‘special rules’ – and villages from the south have pointed out that these areas have already been acquired by five star hotels. The ‘special rules’ will be framed by the government – and you and I will have no say over the use of this land.
Micro Industrial Zones will have their own ‘unique laws’, not the land laws that otherwise apply in Goa. This was exactly the proposal for the SEZ’s that Goa battled and threw out. So this land will again go out of the control of not just the common man, but of the general laws of the land.
No one seems to know what land laws the Zone plan and Non PDA ODP areas will follow. These are not detailed in the Final RP.
Let’s take a look at the one designation in the Draft RP2011 that every one hailed – the concept of Eco Sensitive Zones (ESZI and II). Large swathes of Goa were put under the protection of these Zones. These zones still exist in the Final Draft – but we are not told if they will apply in any of the areas that have other designations slapped on them. We already know that ESZ zones do not apply in ODP areas. If that logic is extended – then the designation of areas as ESZ is largely meaningless if they overlap with any other designation. The Final RP also says that zone changes approved, conversions sanctioned, and licenses issued in the Eco Sensitive zones will hold good. Take that along with the note that says over 8000 individual requests have been incorporated and it makes for worrying news. Individual requests were the route that the Land Mafia took the last time around. Nowhere is a list of changes and conversions made available. So we might have large swathes marked Eco Sensitive – with huge areas within them already converted.
Forest areas are sacrosanct under the ESZI designation. But over 21 per cent of mining operations fall in forest areas. So if the ESZ zones are to be taken seriously, then the mining operations would have to be shut down. The Draft RP recommended that all mining within 1 km of water bodies should be phased out in 3 years, and mining in other forest areas in 5 years. This recommendation has gone entirely missing from the Final RP.
So is the land in your village safe? Depends. If it is marked VP2. If it doesn’t fall in ODP, Non PDA ODP, Eco Tourism, Micro Industrial areas. If some individual request had not already been taken into account for large scale conversion. If it doesn’t fall in a Growth Hub. If it is not near a mining lease. Far too many ifs for comfort. Far too many loopholes. And yes – plenty of space for far too many hidden agendas. It’s time to hold someone responsible.
The Chairman of the Draft Committee that created the Draft Regional Plan 2021 was Digambar Kamat. The Chairman of the SLC that changed it was Digambar Kamat. The Minister for the TCP Department is Digambar Kamat. In his various avatars he is wholly and solely responsible at the end of the day for the Regional Plan. So let us call on him to act.
Let us stop calling this a ‘people’s plan’. When, without explanation, CM yanks out a choice he gave the people over their land, then it is not a people’s plan. How something that was part of the much touted participative process was allowed to vanish from the final plan?
As Chairman of the SLC our CM should clarify the various new designations that have been put into the plan. Protective clauses and checks and balances need to be added so these new designations don’t become vehicles for hidden agendas. The new additions should be removed if one cannot adequately ensure that they will not become a tool for the rape of Goa.
As Minister for TCP he should clarify for us where the jurisdiction of the RP2021 extends. Does it hold when it overlaps with other designations? And if not – why not? A planning document that does not have a cohesive jurisdiction is a hollow one.
As Chairman of the Draft Committee he should clarify the status of the ESZ’s. Are they going to be over ridden by a dozen other imperatives? Why has mining been let off the hook in the Final Plan?
Lastly, as Chairman of the SLC he should explain to us how he allowed it to so far overstep its mandate. The SLC was supposed to merely finalise the plan based on the inputs that had come in. Instead it introduced sweeping changes – completely subverting the participative role of the people and the spirit of the draft RP.
Mr CM, you owe us an explanation on all fronts. And you owe us action. We desperately need laws in place to protect the land. Now is the time to salvage the Final RP2021.
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Hurrah for the New Year!
By Marc de Souza
My family cheers its coming as they say so long to the old one. It is a fresh start, the turning of a new leaf, the beginning of something better. When the old year dies at the stroke of midnight on December 31 and the New Year stands before us pristine, clean and filled with hope, who can remain unmoved by the prospect of good to come!
Sometimes, the grace that New Year brings is short lived. It lasts from the last stroke of 12 on the clock until however long it takes you, no matter your first resolution. The New Year’s grace, once squandered, is irrecoverable. It is no good telling yourself: “I will try again when the holidays are over”, because you will not try again. On New Year’s day you try to see what the twelve months will bring. You are tempted to believe that you are given a moment of grace that could make a difference. Without the hope of grace, what else is there but fear!
This is the time when New Year’s resolutions fills us with a new determination to live right, to lose weight, quit smoking or drinking or nagging or procrasting or whatever bad habits keep us chained, and concentrate instead on developing positive habits that will make ourselves and those around us happy.
Happy that is the key word here. I do not know if people still make New Year resolutions; or if anyone succeeds in keeping promises made to oneself longer than mid-January.
Your New Year’s resolutions need some oomph! We have seen the light of the world. It shone in Bethlehem over 2000 years ago and it continues to shine in our midst.
If there is a sense of hopelessness among some believing people, it is because of an abysmal ignorance of God’s design for mankind. What we need is a new passion, a new fire, not only for abstract words like truth, justice, peace, but for the living God and for his creation and creatures. A new passion to heal all feelings and alienation, a passion to begin in our families the hard work of healing, to unite to bind, to comfort those closest to us.
The failings of human consciousness, deprived of its divine dimension, have been a determining factor in all the major dastardly happenings in the world. Evil has made its home in the individual human heart before it entered a political system. When external rights are completely unrestricted, why should one make an inner effort to restrain oneself from ignoble acts?
The prophet of non-violence, Mahatma Gandhi, offered a peace prescription we dare not refuse.
Auld Lang Syne can make you pine and whine, shine or malign. That is because opening the door to the New Year often lets in a flood of auld memories – good and bad, invited and uninvited.
Once, Christmas toys lasted till the next generation. Once, friendship lasted a lifetime and families were always together for holidays and maybe even Sunday lunches and dinners. Now, everybody keeps moving away – out of town, out of touch. But that is the way life is today and we cannot magically turn back the clock. So, best we can do is to reach out and touch by telephone and mail, love and prayers. And should old acquaintances be forgotten, we can remind ourselves that shiny and new can be nice, but not always better.
Maybe in this New Year, we should resolve to hold on tighter to those old tried and true morals and values, husbands and wives, friends and others – for Auld Lang Syne.
With the media bombarding us with bad news, it is hard to focus on the good news and the many blessings that abound in our world. But focus we must, so we can gain the strength to continue the good fight. If we but look and appreciate the wonders God made, we can rejoice with awe as we pray for help with the awful. What a great New Year it would be! Happy New Year!
