Team Herald
PANJIM: With the BJP-led government reviving the controversial Regional Plan 2021, after having initially kept it in abeyance for nearly six years, former Congress Chief Minister Digambar Kamat on Monday said that under the Town and Country Planning (TCP) Act there is no provision to keep the regional plan in abeyance.
“This is completely illegal. A plan once notified cannot be kept in abeyance or government cannot go back to the old plan (2001), which stands lapsed automatically once the new plan comes into force. RP 21 was notified on October 20, 2011 and till date it stands notified,” the Congress leader said.
Going through TCP Act, Kamat said the Act empowers the government to withdraw the plan in totality or partially but does not speak about keeping it in abeyance. “As such, all permissions granted or rejected on basis of administrative order dated June 4, 2012, are illegal and in violation of TCP Act,” former Chief Minister stated.
RP-21 was kept in abeyance by the previous BJP-led government through an administrative order dated June 4, 2012. The State government on March 29 revived RP21 allowing constructions in settlement, commercial areas while prohibiting it in eco-sensitive zones, khazan lands, and other restricted areas.
Kamat also alleged that the saffron party tried to “paint them black” on the issue of RP during the 2012 election.
“In 2012, BJP went to the people promising to scrap the Regional Plan 2021. They painted Congress black on the issue. People believed in them and voted for them. But today, they have revived it and hence people are agitated again,” Kamat told media persons.
“Even today I say that the Regional Plan drafted by my government was one of the best plans. It was drafted in consultation with renowed experts like Dr Charles Correa. There were some discrepancies, which we had agreed to rectify but before that the election code came into force and we were out of power,” Kamat, also a former Town and Country Planning Minister, said.
“My question is, when they wanted to accept the same plan, why did they keep it in abeyance all these years?” he added.
