At crossroads

The acrimonious debate on the regional plan at the village level and the demand that it be scrapped leaves one with the eerie feeling that the grey area is shrinking and citizens are taking hard stands without leaving any room for talks and reconciliation. Gram sabhas have been passing resolutions to scrap the regional plan and there seems to be no one to defend it. Everybody wants to get on the ‘scrap the plan’ bandwagon, including the government, which does not want to be caught on the wrong side in an election year.Some of those who played an active role is formulating the plan are just too tired to stand up and explain the rationale all over again while others have chosen the popular pathway.

The reopening of the plan for suggestions and corrections has opened the floodgates of resentment and it appears that in the end the baby will be thrown out with the bathwater. The Regional Plan, for all its faults is a fine piece of work guided by the late Charles Correa, who unlike many activists, figured out very early in life that in order to move things one has to learn to work with governments. Regional Plan 2021 is the only plan in which forests, paddy fields, orchards, mangroves, slopes, hills, industrial areas, settlement areas are clearly marked. Discarding all this work in a fit of anger would take the State back to the 2001 plan, which is vague, unscientific and leaves a lot of room for interpretation. To adopt this plan for even a short period would spell doom for Goa because once permissions are given they cannot be withdrawn.

So far, the government has played along with the process of rectifying the plan with a rider that it does not want to impose the plan on the people. RP 2021 was formulated through a top-bottom-top approach which took local suggestions on board for the first time. Demands for conversion of land for settlement were processed with a fixed criteria and the result was minimum release of land. Deputy Chief Minister Francis D’Souza was right when he said if the plan is scrapped then the State would have to start the process for RP 2031.

Citizens must remember two things when talking about the plan. First, there is no such thing as a perfect plan. Second, builders, hoteliers, traders, transporters, landowners in other words, business interests and the government are also stake holders of the plan along with common citizens, greens and activists. One cannot exclude any of these interests and hope to formulate a regional plan.

The only way forward is to study all the submissions and objections forwarded to the Town and Country Planning Department, call representatives of villages which want it scrapped, for a reconciliation proceedings and make all necessary rectifications in the plan. Regional Plan 2021 must be saved because the alternative is even more dangerous for Goa.