New RP’s biggest challenge: to retain green zones

SHWETA KAMAT

shweta@herald-goa.com

PANJIM: As the Manohar Parrikar-led coalition government proposes a new Regional Plan 2030 – a complete land use document adhering to all the requirements of the State – the biggest challenge before the government is to retain the green land – the eco-sensitive areas – while curtailing settlement zones.

Many of those connected to the formulation of RP 2021, including some who were in the task force which prepared the historic draft RP led by the legendry Edgar Ribeiro, want crucial elements of that draft plan retained, especially the eco sensitive zones.

They feel that it’s best to use that plan as a base while drafting the new regional plan for Goa.

Development plans across India are dogged by one criticism: they keep people, whom the plans are supposed to benefit, out of the planning process and the same happened with RP21 and hence, the activists have urged the government to have wide public participation, to avoid further chaos and protests.

Speaking to Herald, architect and member of the former task force on RP21 Dean D’Cruz said that government should not scrap the RP21 as the plan has many advantages including a proper documented green and protect land use cover. “While drafting the RP21, we had prepared a proper data base and identified the protected areas like eco-sensitive zones, coastal regulation zones, mangrove forests and other areas. The same can be used as a base while preparing the new plan,” he said.

RP21 had identified enough settlement areas keeping in mind the development up to 2030 and hence, there isn’t any need for the government to add on more settlement areas, according to D Cruz. “What I suggest is that the government can keep the RP21 open for deletion of the settlement areas, which were incorporated in the later stage under political pressure and were not part of the draft RP21, prepared by the task force,” he said.

Chairman of Indian Institute of Architects, Goa Chapter Mangesh Prabhugaonkar said that the availability of base plan is very critical for formulation of a new regional plan as the accuracy of this base plan will evolve a framework for planning that will come from overlapping of various land use components of RP2001, RP21 and now with a futuristic growth based plan for 2030.

“Socio economic growth based hubs for each taluka, acting as nodal points need to be re-framed and directed toward the 2030 vision,” the member of state level steering committee on RP added.

Raising serious doubts over the government’s intent to draft a new plan 2030, the Goa Bachao Abhiyan (GBA) said that the ambiguity of existing RP 21 is causing massive destruction. “But there are no clear-cut ideas or guidelines for change of zone and there are sudden unexplained insertions of areas as settlement zones and industrial zones, which were not there in draft stage RP 2021 maps and village maps submitted by Panchayats. This needs to be deleted,” GBA Convener Sabina Martins stated.

A senior official in the government said, “Government will first draft the land use policy using the current land use document that will consider all aspects of forest land, CRZ, wet land, biodiversity, etc. the policy would be the guiding principle for the RP,” official said.

Abhijit Prabhudesai, a veteran activist, demanded that public participation should be to a larger extent while drafting the plan. “NGOs, local governing bodies like panchayats, municipalities, social activists and the villagers should be part and parcel of the planning process,” he stated.