Is there planning in Goa? Unfortunately, yes but it is haphazard. Governed with several legislations and ending master plans, land use plans, vision documents, etc, the planning in the coastal State has been chaotic and it continues to be.
Planned urbanisation is critical for the State at this point as it moves from being predominantly rural to urban, with the growth of census towns – towns that have not been classified as cities but lost their rural character – in the 2011 census.
Long delays, ad hoc decisions, bypassing of draft and notified RPs, imposition of planning and development areas (PDAs) on villagers, people’s protests and massive environmental destruction have been the hallmark of the almost two-decade long planning process for Goa. The government’s grandiose exercise for a suitable Regional Plan 2021 (RP21) has been virtually in ‘draft’ stage for almost 20 years, with Goa still relying on RP 2001 for its land use planning.
Given the fact that RP21 ‑ the land use plan adhering to all State requirement is very much in notified state ‑ Goa today witnesses more and more PDAs with outline development plans (ODPs) being drafted by-passing the concept of One State One Plan. Rampant conversions, developments are hallmarks of these planned processes.
The step by step process of development starts with the Regional Plan which outlines the broad vision of planned development, followed by the ODP, which outlines the salient features or principles of a course action prior to the initiation of detailed planning. And that should be followed by a Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP) which goes into micro planning of each land area and the specific development within that area. Hand on heart, has that happened?
“Urbanisation has taken place in a big way in villages like Porvorim, Calangute, etc, which as per census 2011, can be classified as town. Keeping this in mind, it becomes important to have proper planning in place. It is unfortunate to see that outline development plans are prepared which are unconstitutional. Constitution does speak about district planning and taluka-level planning, which needs to be the focus point,” former law commissioner Ramakant Khalap said.
“The Regional Plan for Goa would be made up of two district plans keeping in mind the larger perspective, the plan has to be up to 2050,” Khalap added.
The process to draw up RP with a long-term perspective was initiated in 1997-1998. 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 November 2011, which too was mired in controversy.
Flouting of planning norms and structured inclusion of peoples’ participation threatens the future of inhabitants of places like Panjim, Vasco, Ponda, Margao, Mapusa and now even coastal villages like Candolim, Calangute and Arpora-Nagoa.
Sabina Martins, Goa Bachao Abhiyan convener, said that since the TCP minister has ‘Goenkarponn’ at heart, they expect a clear process and criteria in place for protection of the eco-systems and Goan identity established before any work on the RP-2021 or RP-2031 commences. “The guidelines sought to have been framed by the Task Force on RP 2021 created in October, 2007, need to be finalised now at the very least,” she said.
(Comment: At a rally by Goenkars against PDA, there was a demand to scrap the TCP department altogether. This begs the question, if the TCP is scrapped how will the guidelines be framed?)
October 2007, the then Congress government initiated a process to draft RP 21 and constituted a task force under town planner Edgar Ribeiro. The RP 21 was drafted by committees loaded with bureaucrats and architects. The plan notified in December 2011, saw activists and stakeholders criticising it as an error-ridden plan. Soon after taking over, then Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, through a notification issued on June 4, 2012, set aside 2012 plan and RP 2001 plan was used as a reference plan. After initially claiming that the 2021 plan has been kept in abeyance, the then Minister for TCP Francis D’Souza, in August 2016 made said that the plan is in use and not kept in ‘abeyance’.
