Team Herald
VASCO: The special gram sabha of Cansaulim-Arossim-Cuelim (CAC) has unanimously passed a resolution demanding the State government to issue an official notification on the participation process for rectification of the Regional Plan 2021 (RP21). It also resolved to adopt the earlier gram sabha resolutions passed on April 11, 2009, and November 20, 2011, with respect to the corrections and suggestions for RP21, which was signed by then TCP Minister Digambar Kamat without incorporating the corrections/suggestions of the CAC panchayat.
A special gram sabha was called on Sunday after the government sent the notified RP21 of the villages of Cansaulim-Arossim-Cuelim. The panchayat placed the plan before the village planning committee earlier and thereafter before the gram sabha.
After discussing the issues of the RP21, the gram sabha resolved that the ecologically fragile area at the Arossim seashore, where Competent Automobiles has proposed a 226-room starred hotel, be marked on the RP21 as orchid and no-development zones.
Panch Marta Saldanha objected to the resolution and stated that the proposal was not in sync with the agenda of the meeting. However, she was overruled by Chairperson Jose Marie Furtado on grounds that it was a zoning issue, and hence, the resolution was important.
The gram sabha also rejected the modifications to the RP21 for the village approved by the government. The members stressed that the government is duty bound to accept the recommendations made by the CAC panchayat after consulting with the gram sabha (in terms of the 73rd Amendment and Goa Panchayati Raj Act 1994).
The gram sabha later suggested corrections and changes to the RP21. The members were of the opinion that the width of all village roads, except the MDR road, should be not more than 5 metres. Additionally, the members called for the area between the 200-meter high tide line and 500-meter high tide line to be marked as ‘orchard’ as per the gram sabha minutes on April 11, 2009.
