PANJIM: The Town and Country Planning (TCP)Department has further ‘corrected’ zoning of three plots of land admeasuring 5,543 square metres specified as paddy fields in Regional Plan-2021 to settlement zones.
The zone of the plot of land admeasuring an area of 4,825 square metres surveyed under survey No. 171, sub-division No. 20, of Siolim village in Bardez taluka, plot of land admeasuring an area of 253 square metres surveyed under Survey No. 150, sub-division No. 15-L of Raia village and 465 square metres surveyed under Survey No. 116, sub-division No. 2, of Curtorim village both in Salcete taluka, earmarked as paddy field as per the Regional Plan are corrected as settlement zones.
With this the TCP has so far approved as many as 29 applications which sought change of zone under Section 17 (2) of TCP Act. The Section 17 (2) of the TCP Act does not provide for any public consultation before the government makes any changes in the Regional Plan, activists state.
Meanwhile, the High Court of Bombay at Goa will on July 24 hear three Public Interest Litigation (PIL) writ petitions filed by three environmental organisations — Goa Foundation, the Khazan Society of Goa and the Goa Bachao Abhiyan (GBA) and three individuals, challenging Section 17 (2) of the Town and Country Planning Act, 1974.
The petitioners are seeking to quash and set aside the newly added Section 17 (2) of the Goa Town and Country Planning Act, 1974 which seeks to allow ad-hoc and arbitrary conversions of privately owned plots in the Regional Plan, based simply on individual applications from such parties on the grounds of alleged errors that need to be corrected in the said Regional Plan.
