PANJIM: The Goa Bachao Abhiyan (GBA) has denounced the government promulgating an Ordinance with retrospective effect, to cover the rampant illegal actions by the Town and Country Planning (TCP) Department in the matter of the Outline Development Plan (ODP) of Calangute-Candolim, Parra and Arpora-Nagoa villages, ahead of Lok Sabha elections.
GBA convenor Sabina Martins stated that though the Governor had exercised his right after satisfying himself that ‘circumstances exist’ to promulgate an Ordinance, but the same ODPs were scrutinised by a Committee in 2022, noting the irregularities that ignored due precedence to the zoning and policies of the Regional Plan 2021. It was clearly stated that these criteria cannot be overwritten by any ODP and therefore it was suspended, in keeping with good planning policies.
The GBA has charged that the Chief Town Planner Rajesh Naik in an act of defiance went beyond his jurisdiction in issuing clearances well after the ODPs were suspended. It was a new law that the first Ordinance of 2024 acts as a cover up, bypassing an indictment by the High Court of Bombay at Goa, which by an order on February 14, 2024 struck down the ‘illegal’ permissions after the ODPs were suspended. The High Court had struck down the circular issued by the Chief Town Planner directing the Town Planning Offices to follow ODPs already withdrawn by the government. “It unapologetically protects and encourages further departmental breakdown and corruption,” Martins said.
“Like a burst pipeline that is never attempted to be fixed, a slew of amendments to the TCP Act including 39A, the earlier 17(2) and 16B, are being joined by a hurried and ill-advised rush to regularise and reward illegalities and dodge any duty to the public. Planning is a public responsibility and public participation is a Constitutional right,” Martins added.
According to GBA, none of these amendments and Ordinances will benefit the public instead following an unconstitutional fee-based planning approach. They increasingly alienate the citizens from a right to justice, environment or otherwise. It is already clear from the list of beneficiaries of 17(2) that more than 75 per cent are real estate holdings and directors of such companies seeking to change the Regional Plan for profit. Amendment 39A of TCP Act will simply amplify the same, it said.
The GBA has called upon the concerned citizens to make their displeasure heard, through their MLAs, at gram sabhas and to defeat malafide intent.
