The Curtorim village Outline Development Plan which has been kept open in the TCP office is not in sync with the realistic facts of the village, it has been alleged. Several suggestions were submitted to the TCP for desired changes to the plan. However, people now claim that only a few or almost none have been incorporated in the plan. In addition to the mess, the TCP reportedly informed people that the suggestions filed between 5th November 2011 and 21st Dec 2011 will be the only ones which will be incorporated. This fact has made people believe that all the effort that they put in for a people friendly Regional Plan 2021 will be down the drain soon. The Panchayat body meet on 15th and Gramsabha on 19th December will be rocked by the Regional Plan issue.
Aspersions have now begun to be cast over the stand of TCP regarding the limited inclusion of suggestions and it is still not clear what will happen with the 3500 applications filed by Goans across the state for desired changes. In the case of Curtorim village, only 1 application has been put in at that time period which is a disheartening fact for the well wishers of the village. While speaking to Herald, Santan Rodrigues, a panch of Curtorim Panchayat said, “The efforts we put in through meetings with people and others will go in vain if the TCP decides to go ahead with the present draft”. More importantly, several Gram sabhas of various Gram panchayats had resolved against the existing ODP in the past and by means of resolutions had sent the changes to the ODP. Now it is still unclear on what may happen to those meetings and the suggestions. A close look at the ODP of Curtorim shows no mention or representation of Government areas, Institutional areas and heritage sites in the Curtorim Village panchayat. The villagers were amazed to see the road passing from Curtorim market area. They claim that there is lot of development in the proposed MDR road widening area which has been given clearance and conversions by the TCP themselves. Contradictions in the actions of the TCP aside, if the proposed road of 25 meters becomes a reality, it will displace the market for which no other option for shifting has been shown. “The road may be a Major District Road but looking at the places it connects and the frequency of traffic, 25 meters sounds too huge,” said Santan. Abhijit Prabhudessai who is on the Ward development Committee of Curtorim has called for scrapping of the Regional Plan as he says the plan is in violation of the TCP Act, the Forest Conservation Act and also the CRZ Act. “There is no attention paid to climate change related planning and we were shocked to see an average of over 15 lakh square meters of land added to settlement zones in eco-sensitive villages without any attention paid to the future of the state,” he said.
When Herald contacted the MLA of Curtorim, Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco, he said, “The then Chief Minister, Manohar Parrikar had promised the House that he would reconsider the ODP with changes and later made a U-Turn on his word. Now looking at the discrepancies, I feel that the plan shouldn’t have been opened at such a festive time. If at all they had to open it, then it should have been sent to the Panchayats for suggestions which has not been done.”
