Attention Godfrey. The below four stories is a compilation on the RP 21.
Avertano in the dark over deadline extension
MARGAO: Salcete’s lone minister in the Parsekar Cabinet, Fisheries Minister Avertano Furtado has no idea whether the government will extend the deadline for inviting suggestions and objections to the Regional Plan 2021, even as two more villages from his Navelim constituency have joined the chorus for extension of the deadline.
When The Goan contacted Avertano on Sunday to find out whether the government has accepted his suggestion to extend the RP time frame, he said he will find out from Deputy Chief Minister Francis D’Souza, who also holds the Town and Country Planning portfolio, whether the government will extend the time frame or not. “I have not received any intimation from the government till date on plans to extending the deadline. But, I will check out with the Deputy Chief Minister on the matter," Avertano said.
He, however, admitted that two more panchayat bodies, including Telaulim and Aquem-Baixo, have also demanded extension of the RP 21 deadline.
A meeting of the Aquem-Baixo village panchayat and citizens have unanimously resolved to ask the government to extend the deadline so that the villagers can study the features of the plan before making any suggestion. It is learnt that some of the citizens have demanded extension of the deadline by two more months.
The Navelim panchayat special gram sabha, which was attended by the Fisheries Minister, earlier this week had unanimously rejected the RP 21, taking strong objections to the 15-meter and 10-meter wide interior roads proposed in the Plan.
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Lohia Maidan meet to explain flaws in Plan
MARGAO: Concerned citizens of Goa along with activists and NGOs will hold a presentation on the RP 21 at the Lohia Maidan on December 28, at 6 pm, to explain to the people the flaws in the plan.
Activist Sidharth Karapurkar has invited all interested citizens to make it for the presentation and seek replies to the queries dogging their minds on the RP 21. “We will explain all details of the plan and answer questions of people. We will also do overlapping of the RP on Google Earth," he said.
Karapurkar said the concerned citizens of Goa have conducted study of the RP in respect of over 100 villages from both North and South Goa.
Activist Abhijit Prabhudesai, Ronny Dias, Sidharth Karapurkar and others will also take questions from the citizens during the question-answer session at the Lohia Maidan.
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Cuncolkars object to proposed road width
MARGAO: Citizens and activists have raised objections over the road width proposed in the RP 21 for Cuncolim town, even as the Cuncolim Municipal Council has convened a special meeting of the Council, to discuss and deliberate on the plan, on December 29, at 11 am.
Activist Ronny Dias told The Goan that the major district road of 25 meters proposed along the Cuncolim-Assolna road is expected to affect at least three schools, besides a host of houses and compound walls along the route. Similarly, he said the RP has proposed MDR along the Cuncolim-Ambaulim road without taking into account the number of residential houses located along the road.
“If any one plans to build a house along these two roads, they will not have much space taking into account the setbacks and the RP 21," he said, while calling upon the citizens to attend the Council meeting and listen to what the councillors have to say on the plan.
The meeting will be held in the chamber of the CMC Chairperson Lavita Mascarenhas.
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UGF bats for new TCP Act
MARGAO: Terming the existing TCP Act as obsolete since it has no framework to accommodate the provisions of the Panchayat Raj Act, Municipalities Act, CRZ et al, the United Goans Foundation has batted for a new Town and Country Planning Act to protect the social, environmental, spatial and economic development of the State.
UGF Secretary Avinash Tavares said the NGO has prepared a new Act after studying Acts of other states, primarily that of Maharashtra, Gujarat and Kerala. He said the UGF had demanded that the RP 2021 be de-notified and scrapped, but hastened to add that restarting the process on the foundation of the existing flawed TCP Act will not yield a better Regional Plan. “Over the next few weeks UGF will work with various other organisations and stakeholders in further refining the Act. UGF will also submit the copy of the proposed Act to the local bodies, the State Government and other members of the Legislative Assembly in order to have it adopted and the obsolete TCP Act replaced at the earliest," he said.
He pointed out that several organisations, panchayats and individual citizens have raised objections on multiple domains areas, namely eco-sensitive zones, heritage, CRZ, industrial estates, mining, infrastructure, etc, but the fact is the government has the discretionary powers to reject every suggestion/objection that they receive because of the flaw in the existing TCP Act of 1974, which doesn’t take into account the 73rd and 74th Amendment of the Constitution.
“As a solution to the issue of the Regional Plan, United Goans Foundation has prepared a Town and Country Planning Act that takes into consideration various other States and Central Act related to environment, heritage, infrastructure, wildlife, etc. Instead of the present system where in the Planning and Development Authority are a single entity, the proposed Act bifurcates it into two bodies, the Planning Authority and the Development Authority, in order to reduce corruption and issues related to vested interest," he added.
Tavares said the proposed Act creates a three-tier governance structure, namely at the Town and Country Planning Commission (State level), District Planning Commission and the local body (Panchayat/Municipality/ Municipal Corporation).
