The announcement came merely days after heated exchange of words between the Minister and the people of Pernem and the Mandrem legislator. As the people of Pernem began preparing for a mass taluka-level movement against the bulldozing of their objections and suggestions, people’s power prevailed and the government had to literally eat humble pie.
A year ago, on September 28 last year, the government was forced to scrap another of its decisions. After a sustained people’s protest, the government scrapped the Goa Land Development and Building Construction Regulations amendments after people from across the State staged massive protests outside the Town and Country Planning Department office in Panjim.
The State has a total land of 3,702 sq km and Goans are fighting to preserve this from being taken over by land sharks. With land, flourishes its culture, identity and resources. As children, we all have heard the story of the farmer and the goose which laid the golden eggs. Goans don’t expect their elected representatives and legislators to be like that farmer who foolishly killed the goose to usurp all the golden eggs at once.
When a minister in the government says that 1.4 crore sq mts of land is a negligible area of conversion considering the Pernem taluka’s area, then can the people trust the government? By that yardstick shouldn’t the government without any delay and challenges to the High Court directions, declare the Tiger Reserve which would protect Goa’s forested areas for posterity? The Tiger Reserve is a people’s demand and the proposal has been made by none other than the government departments and agencies of the State and the Centre. The Western Ghats, which include the forest areas of Goa, are recognised by the UNESCO World Heritage Centre as one of the biodiversity hotspots in the world and therefore their protection is inevitable.
Goa has been known for its scenic beauty of beaches, hills, plains and rivers. However, in order to avoid being in the eye of the storm of climate change, the State has to be prudent in its planning and execution of policies keeping in tune with environmental needs of the future. Goa is fast losing its khazans, mangroves, agricultural land as well as forests – at times to development projects, mostly to plans of the real estate lobby and also to forest fires. Mass land conversion in the name of development, without giving a thought to impact it will have on the environment, is surely only going to spell disaster for the State. Development is certainly needed but cannot come at the cost of people’s livelihood.
Unplanned development without people’s participation is a perfect recipe for disaster. If the government takes the people’s aspirations for granted then the inevitable is bound to occur.
In the past, the government has dubbed the ones fighting for protecting the State’s resources as ‘fraud’. By questioning these people, the government had set on a misinformed path of bulldozing the idea of people’s movements. If the government is serious in drafting a new TCP act in the months to come, then it will have to accept people’s participation without prejudice. The scrapping of the Pernem zoning plan has proved that in Goa people’s power is still alive and kicking.
As Abraham Lincoln said, “Democracy is a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.”
