State-wide people’s action against TCP amendments, throwback on RP agitation

KARSTEN MIRANDA

PANJIM: The voices being raised by the public against the proposed amendments by the Town and Country Planning (TCP) Department has started to have a domino effect and is slowly leading to a State-wide movement to stop the State government’s plans that they strongly oppose.

Over the last couple of weeks, there have been multiple public meetings held in various parts of the State as well as village panchayat gram sabhas.

Besides the towns of Margo and Panjim, there have been such meetings in a large number of villages such as Candolim, Moira, Loutolim, Carmona, Varca, Benaulim, Betalbatim, Chinchinim amongst others.

While these meetings have so far been held with the objective of getting the public to submit their objections to the Town and Country Planning (TCP) department, the momentum that is building up at these meetings is reminiscent of the mass agitation that was held years ago against the Regional Plan (RP) and the government ultimately had to bow down to the demands of the public.

Many of the persons and groups participating in these meetings were part of those anti-RP agitations and have since been fighting for similar causes affecting Goa, its environment and land. One such group was the Goa Bachao Abhiyan (GBA), which has already conveyed its opposition to the amendments.

GBA convenor Sabina Martins alleged that “the only focus is on increasing allowable built-up areas and an entry into Goa’s pristine villages and eco-zones to big-ticket commercial interests”

 She said that the amendments are guaranteed to turn Goa into a random theme park-cum-party slum.

“The ill-advised amendments not only reflect badly on the functioning of the TCP department but on the inability of the State in terms of law enforcement in the case of land illegalities, as well as its inability to create proper infrastructure for its citizens,” she added.

Goa Foundation Director Claude Alvares who addressed some of the largely-attended public meetings said the government should think twice before trying to fool the public as after all it is the public, which put them in power.

He further added that if the government thinks they can go ahead and do what they want without caring for public opinion, then the government will have to face a lot of problems from the public as their legitimate objections cannot just be disregarded.

“Take the zoning plans for example which have now become law. The government has the regional plan, the outline development plan (ODP) and now they have zoning plans for all the persons and villages which are outside the Planning Development Authority (PDA). So first these were outside the PDA, now they will have zoning plans and who is going to be designing these zoning plans, the same TCP,” said Alvares.

 He emphasized that his only hope is now with the public of the State.

 “The public has to realise that 4 lakh square meters are being given for golf courses, 500 square metres for farmhouses etc. If they take this matter seriously then I think we will be able to stop many of these senseless developments. I call them senseless because if they were of interest to the public, I would have been the first to support,” said Alvares.

Against this backdrop, the agitation against the TCP amendments is going to accelerate as villagers, panchayats, and even comunidade bodies are set to submit their objections to the TCP on Monday.

They will not just stop after the TCP deadline for submissions is over but will continue to keep a vigil on what the TCP plans to do and are fully ready to come on the streets and protest if the State government decides to ignore their detailed and written objections and instead notifies the proposed amendments, which according to them will change the identity and way of life in Goa.  The TCP has already received thousands of objections already, a clear reflection of how the majority of the public feels about the government’s plans.