The fight against PDAs and Regional Plan 2021 is set to take an ugly turn with TCP Minister Vijai Sardesai rejecting outright the 8-day ultimatum given by a group called ‘Goemkar Against PDA’ to scrap all PDAs. There are four major demands which were being put forth at a rally at Azad Maidan on Friday last. De-notification of Planning and Development Authority from all villages, Amendment to the Town and Country Planning Act, Constitutional powers to the villagers and Scrapping of the Regional Plan 2021.
Close on the heels of trimming down the Greater Panjim PDA after intense public pressure, concerns have begun to swell over rampant development and how the state’s identity is being systematically destroyed by planning models imposed by the government. The exclusion of villages from Greater Panjim PDA has been not only an example of how people’s will prevailed, but also established the fact that their voices are being heard.
While the people have a right to choose and even protest and hold peaceful morchas to create an awareness and drive home their point, it must be borne in mind that in a democracy issues can’t be resolved by holding a gun to the head of those ruling the State. When the TCP minister has consistently given a call that he is ready to engage at all levels, it has to be respected and all stakeholders should rather work out a way forward.
Some of the demands which have been made may not be irrational, but they cannot be implemented in an 8-day time-frame. This is a democracy where the law of the land will prevail and where the will of the people should be respected within the boundaries of the Constitution.
Demands reverberated at the Azad Maidan rally with prominent activists calling for scrapping the TCP Act and sending home those working at the TCP. In fact, Claude Alvares went a step ahead to say that those at the TCP should be sent home and their pay cheques delivered at their doorstep. There were calls that gram sabhas should have the final say. Emotional outbursts like these can be misguiding when ground realities paint a different picture. Firstly, the TCP department cannot be scrapped at the whims and fancies of agitators. Secondly, the gram sabhas in Goa cannot be considered as one voice of the villagers. It is a well-established fact that in some villages, gram sabhas are known to be driven by vested interests and false propagandas.
It is distressing that the church body Council for Social Justice and Peace (CSJP) and the church giving an open call to its flock to join the protest. Religion cannot mix with politics at such a level where it spreads hatred. Would the church be responsible if an agitation on the lines of mining-affected breaks out eventually? If at all the church is involved, it should have been at a level of a mediator and peacemaker. It should have been prudent to show its flock a rightful way within the boundaries of democracy, especially at a time when the TCP Minister has engaged himself with the church leadership on various issues.
