The Town and Country Planning (TCP) may have just toed the Goa Industrial Development Corporation line to cut open spaces in industrial estates to 10 percent
from the earlier 15. But the GIDC move doesn’t reflect sensible administration on their part. The government may have been running short of land even as it is promoting Goa as an investment destination. The GIDC will be quick to add that the decision is taken in the larger interest of industrial growth in Goa. But that isn’t really the point. These are half-measures and it actually makes no sense considering the fact that land that has been slotted for industrial use has not been optimally used. Industrial estates are governed by the GIDC and the corporation
suggested a reduction in open spaces to the department
of town and country planning, the TCP. The initial suggestion
was to cut open spaces by half, from 15 percent down to 7.5
percent. The TCP approved reduction to 10 percent. The GIDC’s
contention for this move, according
to them, is due to the fact that
Goa is facing a severe industrial
space crunch and many industries
have been asking for more space.
There’s also the fact that over 35
lakh square metres of land is stuck
in special economic zone litigation.
The GIDC says that most of the existing space in industrial estates
have been taken up by companies. This amounts to a total
of 1.74 crore square metres of land, which means that there’s
almost 27 lakh square metres of open space, which will be cut
down by 8.7 lakh square metres if this nonsensical proposal
goes through. So, the easy way out is to reduce open spaces.
A more prudent way would conducting an inventory of industrial
land, even if it is time-consuming. While most of the existing
space in industrial estates is definitely taken up by companies,
it remains to be seen whether all of this space is actually
being utilised.
Over the years, governments have allotted land to companies,
many of whom have not done anything on their plot of land.
This is where the government has to be forceful and get the
land back, allotting it to more deserving companies.
Open spaces are crucial to industrial estates, not just for parking
space, which is a sizeable need, but also for recreational
space. There’s also the matter of green cover, an important aspect
to an otherwise concrete covered space. One cannot simply
say that Goa has a space crunch in the many industrial estates
around. There has to be a survey conducted to ascertain
a land use map. It would make sense to also wait for the SEZ
land to free up, instead of just grabbing land as they see fit.
