If something is hit hard due to the enforcement of Model Code of Conduct in the State it is the finalisation of Regional Plan 2021 — a complete land use document adhering to all requirements. The state government’s five-year long grandiose exercise to modify and subsequently notify the RP21 has virtually come to a ‘standstill’ due the code of conduct which has been imposed in Goa due to the general assembly elections.
It is an open fact that the BJP-led government, after making tall election promise in 2012 to scrap the land use plan, sat on the document for nearly four years, just posing deadlines after deadlines. It was only at the fag end of its five-year tenure in December 2016 that the government approved modified plans of Sattari, Pernem and Canacona talukas. The notification of these plans is now expected only after the new State Government is sworn in post March 11.
The Government appointed State Level Steering Committee (SLSC), headed by Deputy Chief Minister and Minister for Town and Country Planning (TCP) Francis D’Souza, has come to halt due to the election code, which restricts Ministers from taking any policy decision.
SLSC member and chairman of Indian Institute of State Architecture, Goa Chapter Mangesh Prabhugaonkar said that the whole procedure to rectify RP21 has come to a halt since January 4. “The entire process is just stalled. SLSC cannot hold meetings as it is chaired by Deputy Chief Minister, who is one of the candidates in fray. Code of conduct does not allow him to chair meetings to take police decisions,” he said.
Prabhugaonkar said that even those files on notifying the land plan of Sattari, Pernem and Canacona taluka, which had gone to the Chief Secretary, are pending. “The entire exercise has come to halt. We will now have to wait for formation of the new Government. The fate of RP21 is now in hands of new Government,” he stated.
The SLSC, had in December last year, approved the final plans for these three talukas, which had later got the nod from the Town and Country Planning (TCP) Board. As far as the remaining nine talukas, the Committee had commenced ground verification of the suggestions and objections it had received from the public.
It would be interesting to note that RP21 will continue to remain in limbo for sometime; as the new Government will decide on whether to continue with SLSC work or to go back and call for fresh inputs and then decide on notifying the plan all over again.
The process, to draw up RP with a long-term perspective, was initiated in 1997-1998 through Consulting Engineering Services, a private firm from Delhi. A draft RP 2011 was notified in August 2006. This plan sparked off extensive protests led by Goa Bachao Abhiyan, which managed to get it scrapped in 2007. This resulted in notification of RP 2021 by December 2011, which too was mired in controversy.
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MoI advisory panel yet to hold meetings in South
The extended term of the government-appointed Advisory Committee on the Medium of Instruction (MoI) comes to an end on Monday (Feb 13) as it has failed to conduct meetings in the South district owing to the code of conduct.
As the Election Commission of India enforced the Model Code of Conduct from January 4, the 17-member committee deferred six meetings with the respective school managing committees after February 4. But with Goa concluding the election process even as the code of conduct continuous to remain in force, the Director of Higher Education Bhaskar Nayak-headed panel has reportedly not finalised fresh dates.
In a bid to ensure that the contentious issue doesn’t hamper the election process, the State Government had granted three months extension to the advisory committee asking it to submit a report by February 12, 2017. The committee’s 120-day time period had ended on November 12, 2016 and thereafter it sought for additional time to submit its report.
One of the committee members revealed that he has not received revised meeting schedule as on date. “Now with the exams scheduled in March-April, it is unlikely that meetings will be scheduled anytime soon,” he said.
When the ECI announced election code from January 4, the committee decided rescheduling its meetings to an undecided date. Member Secretary of the advisory committee N G Honnekeri had confirmed to Herald that meetings, scheduled at six different places, will be fixed post February 4, 2017. “Since the code of conduct is in force and polling is scheduled on February 4, we have postponed the taluka-level meetings. The fresh dates and venues will be decided soon,” he was quoted as saying last month.
The committee had earlier planned its first meeting at Canacona on January 10 followed by two meetings in Salcete on January 13 and January 17, and three meetings on January 21, 30 and 31 at Mormugao, Sanguem and Dharbandora respectively.
It has already completed six meetings in North Goa which include Sattari, Bicholim, Pernem, Bardez and Tiswadi. There was poor response from the schools and Parents Teachers Associations (PTAs) but it saw huge demand for primary education in mother tongue — Marathi or Konkani. Very few supported that grants should continue to English medium schools being a government decision. Another section demanded that the MOI choice should be left to the parents.
