Close on the heels of Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar claiming that it would “not be fair” to scrap RP-21 in toto, 'Concerned Citizens of Goa' along with activists and NGOs fumed over CM's statement, expressed strong displeasure and re-iterated their demand for scraping RP-21 in toto.
They have also demanded a moratorium on all land conversions except for private homes and
have penned an 'open letter' to the chief minister and plan to meet him.
Addressing the press, Fr Eremito Rebello said Goans voted for the present government because they had promised to scrap RP-21 in their election manifesto. “Now, they have revived RP-21 on the eve of elections. The scrapping of RP-21 would not be fair for whom? For the builders or some politicians who want to fill their pockets by selling and destroying Goa?” questioned Fr Eremito.
Lashing out at the government, activist Rajkumar from Bardez said if RP-21 is superimposed on the google map, one can see the “level of destruction” relating to nature. He said no soft copies of objections to RP-21 have been put up and one can witness a “sea of yellow” indicating rampant land conversions.
Yet another activist, Abhijeet Prabhudesai, claimed to have proof to substantiate that settlement areas have been added contrary to “thousands of representations” forwarded to the TCP. “RP-21 was put in cold storage for three years. Why has it been revived now?” he questioned.
Judith Almeida of Colva Civic and Consumer Forum said the government has gone against its own assurance of participatory planning by passing an ordinance enabling constructions in eco-sensitive zones.
Almeida said, sand dunes have been shown as settlement areas in RP-21. She said this was brought to TCP's notice, “but no corrections were made”, claiming builders have converted land and rooms have been constructed in areas marked as forest land. “We demand complete moratorium on land conversions. The RP in its present form is a sham,” she remarked.
Activist Siddharth Karapurkar said the RP-21 which was formulated by experts has been changed by the TCP department.
As of now, the activists are not setting any deadline in furtherance of their demand. However, they plan to meet the CM before the expiry of December 31 deadline set by the government for registering objections towards RP-21.
A total of 20 activists were present for the press conference.
