Team Herald
PANJIM: The BJP-led government has set April 1, 2016 as the new deadline for finalization of the controversial Regional Plan 2021 (RP21). The draft will be kept open for public suggestions and objections from the first week of December for a month.
Speaking to Herald on the decision to keep the plan open, Deputy Chief Minister and Minister for Town and Country Planning (TCP) Francis D’Souza said, “I have signed the file and the chief minister has also given his approval.”
D’Souza said the aim is to finalize the plan and notify it by April 1, 2016. “The finalization of the plan has been delayed and I agree much time has been wasted. But, we would not like to drag it more. By April 1, next year the plan will be finalized taking valid suggestions from the public,” he said.
Stating that it is not an easy task, the Deputy Chief Minister said that RP21 was notified in 2011 and since then several changes on the ground have taken place. “There is possibility that we might receive several suggestions as well as objections. We would also hold special hearings in some cases,” he said.
In 2011, when the plan had been kept open, the government had received 3500 suggestions and objections.
The government had initially set December 31, 2015 as the deadline for finalization of RP21. However, a delay on the part of the chief minister’s office for approval for seeking fresh inputs from the public, kept this on hold.
This was followed by directions from the State Election Commission, advising the government not to go ahead with its plan owing to the municipal elections last month.
In its 2012 election manifesto, BJP had promised to scrap RP21 and draft a new plan. However, the government is now clear that there is no need to scrap the existing plan.
As per information available under Right to Information (RTI), 166 panchayats have submitted their inputs for corrections in the finally notified RP21 while 15 have demanded that the plan be scrapped.
