Deputy Chief Minister Francis D’Souza appears to have irrevocably succumbed to the real estate lobby by almost deciding to “release’ the flawed and suspended Regional Plan 2021, in three phases. Herald had warned of the possibility of this actually happening due to Mr D’ Souza’s earlier statements, right from the time Manohar Parrikar left and Laxmikant Parsekar became Chief Minister. Last week, Herald learnt that the decision has been taken, barring a few formalities including legal validation.
The disturbing ramifications of this move are many, but the premise on which the decision has been taken is shocking. Your newspaper has strongly attacked this premise in the past and has no hesitation in repeating it as often as needed to drive the point home. (Please refer online or print to Editorial of January 21, 2015 – “Govt has to send the Regional Plan to the people or quit” and that of Feb 10 – New Regional Plan is Goa’s Kashmir). The Town and Country Planning department (which was called most corrupt by former Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar in the assembly) has given the spin that 174 panchayats of the 190 panchayats of Goa have not raised objections to the Regional Plan, which was on hold. This is nothing but stretching of the very fertile imagination of the Chief Town Planner Mr S. T Putturaju (if this is his idea). There is not a single village panchayat is Goa which wants its village plan cleared as it exists in the Regional Plan of 2021. Every village in unison has demanded that its village plan be sent to them again for a genuine village level participation. Deputy Chief Minister Francis D’Souza claims that 174 village panchayats had raised no objections to their village plans. Does he understand that not raising objections does not necessarily mean that they have approved of the plan? And this conclusion is completely valid in the light of the fact the former Chief Minister Parrikar had promised on the floor of the House, that plans would not only be sent, but voted upon and the suggestions of villagers, if valid, would be superimposed on the existing village plan.
What Francis D’Souza proposes is an absolute rejection of Parrikar’s assembly assurance. Can he defend his decision in the light of what we will reproduce again, having done so earlier? Below is the exact assembly exchange of Manohar Parrikar and Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai, on the Regional Plan, on July 24, 2014 :
Vijai Sardesai, MLA Fatorda (translated from Konkani): Speaker Sir, when we were elected to the Assembly, on 20 March the Governor in his address has declared the government’s policy on the Regional Plan and said ‘the Regional plan 2021 would be de-notified”.
Manohar Parrikar: I have not denied that.
A little later as a part of the same discussion, Mr Parrikar says (In English):
“The line of proposed action, I will express to you. I intend to give power to the panchayat, subject to certain condition, not by gram sabha, by voting… (switches to Konkani)… Full village will have to vote. The panchayat will have to vote for five years. On the basis of the said voting, a panchayat plan would be devised which would be superimposed (on the Regional Plan), but there is an exception to it… mostly infrastructure government projects or approved by Investment promotion board.”
Please note, Mr Parrikar clearly agreed that the Regional Plan 2021 would be de-notified.His own Deputy Chief Minister Francis D’Souza, who remains as Deputy Chief Minister under Mr Parsekar, wants to “release” the plan Mr Parrikar promised to de notified, in three phases. One of the objections to RP 2021, was that there were too any changes from the draft plan to allow more space to the real estate and the builder lobby.
Manohar Parrikar had made promises (and did nothing to implement them and thought he could fool Goans). But he kept hopes alive by being consistent that the flawed plan would be de notified. Mr Francis D’Souza now proposes to bury that promise and do the exact opposite, revive a plan Goans have rejected. Moreover they voted this BJP government to power in the hope that it would deliver to Goans a just plan in the spirit of participative planning. The Deputy Chief Minister, who is the TCP Minister is committing a fraud by assuming that 174 villages have no objections to the existing plan.
His foolhardy move will cost his party power in the next elections.
