The Regional Plan for Goa 2001 was approved after a prolonged debate on the objections that were raised by different groups and individuals with respect to the zoning of land and other aspects. The procedure to introduce the Regional Plan 2001 was done after due publication in the Official Gazette and in the local newspapers and people of the State had the opportunity to raise their objections at the relevant time. So also when the Regional Plan for Goa 2021 was notified for public objections people had the opportunity to do so within the stipulated time and the objections were not considered, then individuals or groups could take the legal recourse to consider the same. The basic problem is that people hardly bother to file their objections to such notifications at the appropriate time and wake up once the process is completed.
A lot of opposition to the inclusion of villages into the Planning areas and scrapping the PDAs compelled the government to finally withdraw a number of villages from the Planning areas. But the real question is whether the people are aware of the difference between the Regional Plan and the PDAs. Basically, both are planning bodies regulated by the respective Plans which show the different zones or usage of land for a particular purpose. Unfortunately, the Regional Plan 2001 which ought to have been revised every ten years failed to see any steps taken by the department to revise it. The Town & Country Planning Department failed to have a Regional Plan for Goa 2010. The Town Planning Authority had no alternative but to prepare the Regional Plan for Goa 2021. Whatever be it, the question is why is the serious objection to the introduction of villages into the Planning areas and what is wrong in the Regional Plan 2021.
The Planning and Development Authorities are bodies constituted under the Town & Country Planning Act and has its jurisdiction mostly in the main cities or towns. As on today the PDAs have their own Outline Development Plans. Over the period of time, there has been the need to introduce a lot of changes in relation to FAR, Zoning and the regulations itself. The need for high rise buildings, Malls, Five star Hotels, Industries and such other amenities have become the need of the day. So it is obvious that it has necessitated for FAR had to be increased or bring additional land into settlement areas for meeting the ever growing demand of Housing, Tourism and Industry.
Objections by the people with respect to the Regional Plan 2021 or the areas under the PDAs don’t seem to be with any specific reason. Hence, owners of private properties are the ones who should be the most concerned with the Regional Plan 2021 or the inclusion or non-inclusion of the areas under the PDAs.
There is no doubt that any private person would like to have his land notified in the best possible zone. Even though the Regional Plans or the ODPs are prepared by the Officers of the Town & Country Planning Authorities and the PDAs, there is no justification for the basis on which the plan is prepared.
There is no doubt that in the preparation of the Regional Plan 2021 a lot of money was poured for changing the plan from green to red, and red to purple and blue to yellow. This was merely to facilitate the building lobby to construct high rise buildings and large complexes while depriving many others by zoning their private lands into orchard or agricultural zones. For a good Plan, it would be appropriate to consider the various aspects. Mere colouring of the plan into different zones without doing a survey to verify the ground realities would defeat the very purpose of a Regional Plan.
Whatever be the reasons for the agitators to oppose the inclusion of the village areas in the PDAs or opposition to the Regional Plan 2021, it would be appropriate if people could unite to fight against the land acquisition by the State Government in the name of public projects. It would be worthwhile if people could fight for reservation of jobs in the Industrial areas where land of Goans is acquired and many have been displaced of their only possession. In the name of development, government has destroyed agriculture in the State. Faulty planning has resulted in acquiring farm land for public projects. Very soon more land will be acquired for new roads. Industrial estates will be expanded. Both Konkan Railway and South Central Railway will see expansion of tracks. Over the years, we have seen shifting of bus stands, government buildings, schools, hospitals from the urban areas to the outskirts. Ultimately it is the Goan land owners who have not sold their lands or utilised them for constructions projects who have become the victims for leaving them green.
Development has a price to pay but faulty planning which has done much of the damage to Goa and Goan lands cannot be undone. It’s time Goans demand with the Government laws that will give every Goan land owner or tenants the maximum protection from land acquisition or a well deserved marketable price.
Zoning of land will not matter if people or land owners don’t become victims of acquisition. Already many land owners are annoyed for including their private lands as private forest without proper survey or complying with the criteria where cashew groves and areas under fruit bearing trees and have become victims for keeping it green. Such owners have lost their zeal to cultivate the lands anymore. Any battle on issues like this, divide one group with another.
It would be more important to unite on issues more beneficial to Goa and Goans rather than just highlighting the issue of Regional Plan for Goa 2021. PDAs and offices of Town & Country Planning will continue to function irrespective whether the Regional Plan for Goa 2021 is notified or not.
(Tome Isidoro Carvalho is a practising lawyer and a former Sarpanch of the then Cortalim-Quelossim Panchayat)
