Yet another bill is being introduced ostensibly to ease difficulties. While the Investment Promotion Act which gave birth to the Investment Promotion Board to ensure ease of business, but is basically a mask to push controversial projects on sensitive land by out of state businessmen; the Regularisation of Unauthorised structures bill actually seeks to legalise slums and a host of illegal constructions, including those on the coast.
It is on the touchstone of intent that the fine print of The Regularisation of Unauthorized Structures and Encroachments Bill, 2015, to be introduced in the Budget session of the Assembly, needs to be analysed. And on the touchstone of intent, the legislation is not just draconian but destructive. It covers unauthorized structures on government, communidade and private land. Under this Act, structures built on one’s own property or on others property with proper ownership no-objection certificate (NOC) would be considered. This basically leaves any illegal property open to being regularised.
This is no different from turning black money into white.
The bill is indeed clever. Whenever it has made a pretence of trying to protect the coastline or other sensitive areas, there is an overriding exit route. For instance, Chief Minister Parsekar said the structures in Coastal Regulation Zones (CRZ) and along the roadside would not be regularized, but this clause leaves a window to regularize structures even in CRZ areas by stating “Such cases could be considered on case-to-case basis”.
This government has made it fashionable and has stamped its intent to destroy this land by continuously making legislations that over ride the Town and Country Planning Act and the Regional Plan. This bill is no different. It states, “The proposed legislation would have overriding powers notwithstanding anything contained in any other law including the Town & Country Planning Act, Regional Plan, Panchayat Raj Act, Land Revenue Act and others.” It brutally stamps its authority in Clause 15 of the Act which states that the proposed legislation would have overriding powers not withstanding anything contained in any other law.
The Town and Country Planning department has justified the act by saying that if a structure already exists and can be regularised then the question of whether it is located in the outline development plan or within the provisions of RP should not be the hindrance in the process.
But the reality of how this act will play out is clear. On one hand slums and other unauthorised housing, giving shelter to thousands of out of state people, armed with ration cards, electricity connections and most importantly voter cards, will become legal, guaranteeing a lifetime of votes. On the other illegal structures, including hotels, clubs and dens of vice will become legal, on “a case by case basis”.
While the government may react to this by stating that all well intentioned moves are being criticized, the counter argument to this is these are not well intentioned but evil intentioned moves, set to destroy Goa and hand it over to the highest bidder. The blatant prostitution of our sacred land has to stop and political parties will not put a stop to it because powerful elements in each party have vested interests in the spoils of Goa’s rape.
A new political dawn with fresh faces and a new zeal will alone save Goa.
