the goan I network
PANAJI
The Congress on Sunday said the State government’s move to open a window for conversion of zoning of land based on applications filed by individuals on a case-to-case basis will destroy Goa and is against the spirit and intent of the Regional Plan.
Training his guns on Town and Country Planning Minister Vijai Sardessai, the Goa Pradesh Congress Committee president Girish Chodankar said the TCP amendment which was notified last week and empowers the Chief Town Planner to permit change of zone has raised fears among Goans that natural forest cover will disappear and Goa will not remain the same.
Chodankar said, instead of case-to-case basis the amendment will open the floodgates and land will be converted on a suitcase-by-suitcase basis.
“The Congress had vehemently opposed the amendment. But the government was in a haste to push it through. Perhaps there has been advance booking for land conversion and that’s why the haste,” Chodankar said.
He said, if the provision was meant to allow individual land owners to seek change of zone for their individual purpose, then the amount of land would be small.
“Why is it that the government has not provided for a cap on the amount of land that can be converted under this amendment,” Chodankar asked.
He also said that the amendment is in contravention of the central government’s Urban Regional Development Plan Formulation and Implementation Guidelines issued in 2015, precisely to pre-empt haphazard development in the country.
Meanwhile, Chodankar said the language used in the statement issued by Water Resources and Fisheries Minister, Vinoda Paliencar on Saturday lambasting the Congress for suggesting that Sardesai was lobbying for a ministerial berth for Calangute MLA Michael Lobo at his (Paliencar’s) expense, appeared to be his boss’s rather than his.
“That is not Paliencar’s language. It looks like his boss drafted it asked Paliencar to issue the statement,” Chodankar said.
The GPCC chief also hit out at Speaker Pramod Sawant for suggesting that the Congress was against resumption of mining because of the criminal complaint filed against Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar and his pre-decessor Laxmikant Parsekar in connection with the annulled renewal of 88 mining leases.
“The Congress supports resumption of clean and legal mining but that does not mean that it will lie silent over past crimes and corruption in the sector,” Chodankar said, adding that the party will pursue the case and also expose a number of other corrupt acts of the Chief Minister in the days to come.
He recalled that the figures of Rs 35,000-crore illegal mining scam was raised by Parrikar himself, adding that the whole world knows why he went silent on it in the seven years he is in power.
Attacking Sawant, the GPCC chief said the Congress will come on the streets to expose the corruption of the BJP including corrupt deals in the GSIDC during the Speaker’s stint as chairman.
