Notwithstanding the still unclear contours of how the process of the Regional Plan 2030 will be shaped, there is an immediate need to cut out all ambiguity and get back to the road of planning, keeping in mind traditional land use and make that as the only base to freeze the land use policy.
Consider the government’s road map as officially declared with the Common Minimum Programme: “The main important RP will be drafted based in a clear cut land use policy. Then previous draft RP will be the principal RP on how a particular land would be put to use.”
This raises a big ask. The previous RP is actually not a draft but a notified one. Yet, it has been kept in perpetual abeyance for over five years. Moreover, all decisions on projects and land use have been taken on supposed common grounds between RP 2021 and the absolutely dated RP 2001.
If the government has decided to start on a clean slate, it needs to accept that the bitter pill of rejecting half baked decisions of the past needs to be taken and the process should begin afresh. For that the RP 2021 has to be scrapped. Goa Governor Kateekal Shankarnarayanan in an address to the Assembly on March 19, 2012 said, “My government will de-notify the Regional Plan 2021 and formulate one in due consultation with all stake-holders.” Chief Minister Parrikar, when asked to respond to this had said, “The government’s stand on RP is clearly mentioned in the Governor’s address to the Assembly. Whatever has been said there will happen, but it will take some time to be executed.”
And this is exactly what should happen. The decision to finally look at a 2030 RP is a way forward and is finally a reflection of the Governor’s address, which is nothing but the state government’s stand. Moreover RP 2030 can take birth only after RP 2021 (this is a notified RP and not a draft) is de-notified.
There is a view though that some of the positive aspects of Rs 2021 cannot be thrown away like throwing the baby out with the bath water. But this can be easily circumvented, by taking portions of RP 2021, especially with regard to the Eco 1 and Eco 2 zones which were rightly demarcated and incorporate them in the land use policy and the next RP 2030. The moot point being, the slate has to be wiped clean and a new process started with positive results of the previous RP taken on board, but by scrapping the old RP.
The Chief Minister broadly speaking has set the right tone. “The policy will specify how a particular land can be used, what are the principles considered before a land is made settlement or non-settlement, all these aspects would be first laid down.”
He also said that every land will have development right only up to a particular percentage and be guided by the Regional Plan or Outline Development Plan.
The devil is in the detail though. Firstly it is high time that the whole of Goa is brought under one Regional Plan and not have the twin universes of the RP and the ODP (in urban and semi urban areas).
Therefore, the need of the hour is to go back to the spirit of Regional Planning. The first Regional Plan respected the fields, forest and beach areas; it respected the fact that you do not put up constructions in these places, you don’t tamper with water bodies, paddy fields and khazan lands. Based on this the 1986-2001 plan was constructed.
In 2008, the Charles Correia committee and many others came out with an extraordinary plan, which everyone said was something good and it should be notified. It was notified as a draft plan in 2008. Immediately after, because politicians found that the plan was not suitable for developers and industrialists, they sat together and set up a separate committee to see how they could try to put in all the proposals that were discarded earlier under new labels. They brought in eco-resorts, micro-industrial development estates and so on. With that, they began the process of dismantling the Charles Correia plan.
As we go forward, let’s remember this. Before the land use policy is drafted, the government needs to augment its data collection. Some of the most important elements are the flooding data. What will happen to Goa is a flood takes place? We don’t have any data on flooding in Goa. Similarly, in terms of our water resources, we have not done a single hydro-geological study that will tell us where our water is and how much we have. We don’t know which of our fields are cultivated and so on.
The sum and substance is this. Go back to the drawing board, and the drawing board is our land. Drop past baggage and begin again. Clearly and honestly.
