Team Herald
MARGAO: Goa Bachao Abhiyan (GBA), Goa Foundation and Goyche Fudle Pilge Khatir (GFPK) submitted a joint memorandum on May 26 with their objections to the amendment to the Goa Building Regulations Act. This has been based on the feedback received so far at their recent public meetings wherein it was pointed out that these are the same amendments that came in September, which thousands of people spoke out against.
While they have issued a detailed argument against each of the 14 amendments in this memorandum, the common thread is their demand that all such proposed amendments are scrapped.
“The sub-committee and steering committee who oversee all these amendments are populated by political leaders rather than environmentalists, sociologists and planners. This is a complete conflict of interest. Land use planning which is so crucial in this age of climate crisis has been put in the hands of lobbies who are thinking of self-interest instead of science or welfare of communities or land as a whole,” read an excerpt from the memorandum.
“This is reflected in the overall observations of allowing construction in eco-sensitive zones, regularising large illegal constructions, compromising road widths, sacrificing open spaces, creating massive ‘farmhouses’, encouraging sub-division of agriculture parcels and deleting energy conservation clauses. The amendments ignore ground data and bypass context stipulated in the Regional Plan (RP). In doing so they create conflict with the plans
created to streamline
Goa’s development,” the groups added.
In the memorandum they pointed out that the amendments expose the TCP’s inability to control illegalities, and rather approve them; improve basic infrastructure, and rather stress it beyond carrying capacity; encourage construction activities in eco-sensitive zones, against the very objective of identifying such zones in the RP for their protection; and uphold the various court orders to stop encroachment of land and construction issues.
They added that the amendments also exposes the TCP’s inability to comprehend the increase in road accidents as a fallout of bad planning of road and the unavailability of proper widths for the carriageways; react to the energy crisis in our state and understand the environmental damage the public is facing to get power from long distances and rather drop energy efficiency provisions; and above all, land use planning should be risk-informed in this age of climate crisis, considering Goa’s coastal vulnerability.
“In view of all the above, we demand that all the above amendment proposals be scrapped and the same be prepared in a holistic manner by planning land use at the regional level along with the Development Control and Land Use Regulations, further detailed at every Panchayat and Municipal level. It should be done with the participation of the people of Goa as per our constitutional right. We also request an in-person hearing to get answers from the drafters of this amendment,” they added.
