The Deputy Chief Minister Francis D’ Souza, appeared to have finally responded to the voice of Goa by saying that the vexed Regional Plan 2021, “kept in abeyance” for well over three years, will be “kept open” for fresh suggestions, before the plan is notified.
During his conversation with Herald, his tone appeared to be that of reaching out to the people. His words appeared to be breath of fresh air as he said that with the passing of time, many of erstwhile suggestions would have become outdated. Hence people would want to give fresh suggestions or objections to their village plan of RP 2021. This could include objections to changing zoning patterns, or to projects sanctioned and given a go ahead which goes against existing zoning, or making points about village roads with widths which indicate a mega project coming up.
The point which the Dy Chief Minister seems to be missing is that this exercise will take months and not days. He has indicated that the process of suggestion seeking from the people of Goa will happen over 15 days and upto a month. This time frame will be a mockery of the process of people’s participation. Does the Dy Chief Minister realise the enormity of this task? Goa has 347 villages under 188 panchayats in 11 talukas. Every panchayat of Goa, will have objections and suggestions. Even if you, for arguments sake, conclude that 80% of the suggestions are not genuine or do not hold good, the TCP still has to read, study and verify each suggestion, if it indeed wants this to be an honest exercise in people’s participation. Unless you go through all suggestions, the genuine ones will not be captured. This exercise is all about capturing the genuine objections and not about rejecting the false or concocted ones. Thus if the TCP takes at least one day scrutinising one panchayat, the process will take 188 days or over six months.
Once that is done, it will need time not just to incorporate the genuine suggestions but also match them with suggestions that have already been received (3500 of them) and examine if there are fresh suggestions or changes in suggestions. It is only then that a fair conclusion can be arrived at about the genuineness of each case. Thus we are looking at a period of much more than six months, if this exercise has to be honest, transparent and meaningful. The 15 day time period mentioned by the Dy Chief Minister will be enough to merely download and file the suggestions even before one can look at them. The alternative is to hire hundreds of people who know the subject, which again seem impractical.
Currently the government appears to in a hurry to somehow notify the Regional Plan by December 2015, to tick the Regional Plan box in its to do list. This clearly won’t work. The Government took three years to do nothing on the plan but merely give assurances to people that their suggestions will be heeded to and that the plan would move to the villages. This was also a solemn assurance given by former chief minister Manohar Parrikar in the Assembly. With the government now formally reversing this decision and deciding not to send the plan to the villages but keep it open, it must prove that this is in the real interest of transparency. That clearly doesn’t appear to be the case.
The Dy Chief Minister and the government are treading on dangerous ground. The people of Goa have already lost faith in this government to deliver on the Regional Plan. However, if at this stage, a half baked attempt at people s participation is made, which is perverse and is a hogwash, the disgust of the people will turn to anger. They have waited for three years and they can wait for one more. But at the end of it a plan which genuinely addresses people’s concerns must emerge, not a half heated exercise to push through a jaundiced anti-people, pro builder mafia plan.
