KARSTEN MIRANDA
Prof Edgar F N Ribeiro, former Chief Town Planner of India and Advisor (Spatial Planning) to the Planning Commission of India, passed away at the age of 96. With his passing, Goa and the nation have lost one of the most principled and consequential urban planners of independent India — a man who shaped national policy from the highest offices of government and spent his final years, with undiminished fire, fighting to protect the land he was born on.
If you enjoyed reading this article, you can help support our journalism by adding OHeraldo as a preferred source.
Tributes poured in from across the country since news of his passing broke.
Claude Alvares, Director of the Goa Foundation, captured the depth of the loss most fully: “With the passing of Edgar Ribeiro, we Goans have lost a priceless human being, a great Goan who brought us huge gifts which most of us may not even recognise as such. As a special advisor of the Task Force on the Regional Plan 2021, Edgar Ribeiro ensured that the plan — the masterplan that controls the wise and judicious use of land in Goa — provided a protective shield over 82% of its primary and prime ecological assets: forests, khazans, agricultural lands and hills. These categories of land use make Goa what it is. The RP 21 tagged these under Ecozones I and Ecozones II. It is ironic that even while Edgar Ribeiro had retired to a quiet life with Flavia, his devoted wife, in Socorro, Goa was being convulsed with agitations, hunger fasts and protests against amendments to these very zoning norms under 39A (and earlier), 17(2).”
“He appeared to be bewildered that Chief Town Planners could actively collaborate in these efforts to dismantle the RP protections. Edgar Ribeiro was a kind and patient man. He would talk to many of us at his home, while Flavia plied us with tea and biscuits, explaining the sanctity of town planning laws, fully conscious that we had forgotten past conversations with him on the same subjects. But he never lost his temper. I for one am grateful he found the time to speak to me and my colleagues,” Alvares said.
Architect Tahir Noronha said: “Professor Edgar F N Ribeiro was a luminary in the realm of Architecture and Planning, having served as Chief Town Planner of India, and Advisor (Spatial Planning) to the Planning Commission. His service to Architectural Education, Planning Ethics and Goa is matched by less people than I can count on my fingers. Hill slopes can’t be built on because of advocacy that Edgar was part of. Paddy fields and khazans are mapped because of Edgar. And when things didn’t go the ethical way he sacrificed his career and resigned. Such a stalwart must be put to the highest of honors.”
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said he was “saddened to learn about the demise of Edgar Ribeiro, a distinguished Goan who contributed immensely to the field of urban planning.”
Writer Vivek Menezes remembered him as “a thorough gentleman of the old school who continued his excellent advocacy into his 90s,” extending condolences to Arpita, Freddie and all the bereaved, and noting the loss felt equally by his eminent brother Julio.
Historian Prajal Sakhardande, former Chairperson of the Goa Heritage Action Group, saluted “a humble great Goan town planner,” adding that his “guidance and advice was very valuable and priceless in saving Goa’s natural and historical heritage.”
Activist Judith Almeida called him “Goa’s indomitable son who stood by Goa against all odds with integrity and honour — we will miss you, our shining light.”
Born in Porvorim, North Goa, Ribeiro rose through a distinguished career to become Chief Planner at the Town and Country Planning Organisation (TCPO), retiring in 1988, before serving as Advisor (Spatial Planning) to the Planning Commission. A peer and lifelong collaborator of Charles Correa and some of India’s greatest architects and planners, he went on to shape the next generation of the discipline as Director of the School of Planning and Architecture (SPA), Delhi, and later as the first Chairman of SPA Bhopal. He was the younger brother of Julio Ribeiro, the celebrated former police commissioner and public intellectual.
He never stopped showing up for Goa. He challenged the controversial Panjim Outline Development Plan before the High Court, filed objections to ill-conceived amendments to Goa’s building regulations, and continued to press, well into his nineties, for planning driven by TCP officials and not outside consultants.
“The TCP officials should do the plan because they are competent,” he once said. “The consultants should not be involved because they are project-driven.”
Goa’s hills stand a little more intact, its paddy fields a little more mapped, its planning conscience a little more alive — because of Prof Edgar F N Ribeiro. His passing leaves a void that will not easily be filled.
