SHWETA KAMAT
PANJIM: With the BJP-led coalition government in place, a fresh controversy on the contentious Regional Plan 2021 (RP 21) has re-started with Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar and his cabinet colleague, Town and Country Planning (TCP) Minister Vijai Sardesai, having ‘differences’ of opinion on putting in place a complete land use document adhering to all requirements.
Long delays, ad hoc decisions, bypassing of draft and notified RPs, people’s protest and massive environmental destruction have been the hallmark of the almost two-decade long planning process.
The government’s grandiose exercise for a suitable RP21 has been virtually in a ‘draft’ stage for almost 20 years, with Goa still relying on RP 2001 for its land use planning.
Given that even after a decade-long planning process that kicked off in 2007, the State has failed to have a notified 2021 land use plan, the new Minister is now exploring the possibility of having a plan till 2031, considering that there are hardly four years before 2021 dawns.
“Right now we have the 2001 document which is being relied upon as a reference frame and we have a 2021 document which is being kept on hold. Both are not compatible situations. We offer our cooperation, if sought, to the government, to bring out a logical and reasonably fool proof document,” Goa Bachao Abhiyan convener Sabina Martins said.
She said that since the TCP minister has ‘Goenkarponn’ at heart, they expect a clear process and criteria in place for protection of the eco-systems and Goan identity established before any work on the RP-2021 or RP-2031 commences. “The guidelines sought to have been framed by the Task Force on RP 2021 created in October, 2007, need to be finalised now at the very least,” she said.
In October 2007, the then Congress government initiated a process to draft RP 21 and constituted a task force under town planner Edgar Ribeiro. The RP 21 was drafted by committees loaded with bureaucrats and architects. The plan notified in December 2011, saw activists and stakeholders criticizing it as an error-ridden plan. Though, use of improved mapping techniques and demarcation of ecologically sensitive zones in the plan was highly appreciated, the arbitrary increase in settlement and industrial zones not shown at the draft stage. This, as well as hotel projects in green areas, and omission of cultivable areas and water bodies irked activists.
“If you look at the planning process for almost a decade or two decades, it is all about ad hoc decisions that have resulted in irreversible damage to the State’s environment. Who is to be blamed for this? Successive government’s. For the last 20 years, the government is unable to give us a proper land document and this is shame,” Martins said.
Soon after taking over, then Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, through a notification issued on June 4, 2012, set aside 2012 plan and RP 2001 plan was used as a reference plan. After initially claiming that the 2021 plan has been kept in abeyance, the then Minister for TCP Francis D’Souza, in August 2016 made a shocking revelation that the plan is in use and not kept in ‘abeyance’.
“Until a new plan is notified, RP 2001 shall be used as a reference plan for determining land use,” an order issued by Chief Town Planner ST Puttaraju on June 4, 2012 states.
“In Goa, the bearing capacity of current development patterns as noted in RP01, has reached a saturation index, which doesn’t allow newer futuristic growth trends to merge. This has severe impacts on socio-economic aspects of State’s vision. The RP gives a direction and always shows a progressive upward growth pattern for any development to a plan life for around 15 to 20 years,” chairman of Indian institute of Architect (Goa Chapter) chairman Manguesh Prabhugaonkar said.
He said that in the absence of a finalised RP, which generally has a lifespan of growth and vision-based direction for 15 to 20 years from its release, the State will lead towards illegal and unauthorized incremental growth patterns in a haphazard manner.
Now, even as Parrikar announced that RP 21 would be complete by December 2017, Sardesai is doubtful it could happen. “We need to put in a system that works. A plan which was supposed to come in 2001 does not happen till 2017. What it goes to show is that the system is not working. I am not making a tall claim to say that we will do it. At the moment this RP 2021 has only three years and I am supposed to be here for five years. So I want it to last more than me,” the Minister said, adding, “I do not want to commit to any plan be it 2021 or 2032.”
