PANAJI
Hitting out at the Town and Country Planning (TCP) Minister Vijai Sardesai and even going to the extent of calling him “worse than a prostitute” for introducing Transferable Development Rights, Goenkars Against Planning and Development Authority on Tuesday slammed the government, as well as the Opposition, for introducing the amendment to the TCP Act to incorporate the concept of TDR during the current Assembly proceedings.
Asking why Sardesai was in such a hurry to sell Goa, Arturo D’Souza, convenor of Goenkars Against PDA alleged that Sardesai and the government had no base plan, maps, criteria, reports or studies before bringing in the amendment.
He also expressed surprise that the Congress remained quiet instead of debating on the issue. “By bringing in the amendment, you are telling the builders to do as they wish,” said D’Souza, even as he demanded to know to which zones TDR could be applied considering there was no zone mapping. “Does it apply to the whole of Goa?” he asked.
D’Souza also asked how the amendment could be made when basic infrastructure was not in place. “Proper supplies of water and electricity are not available to everyone,” he said, “Yet the government is introducing one thing after the other.” He also stressed that there were many buildings in Santa Cruz that illegally exceeded the number of floors permitted, and the government was only adding to the problems with the introduction of TDR.
D’Souza argued that the concept of TDR, which has been borrowed from bigger cities like Mumbai, could not be applied to Goa as the criteria there and here were different. “They have designated areas for TDR,” he explained.
Goenkars Against PDA also said that more than two months after a meeting was held to denotify additional PDAs, these had not yet been denotified.
They also said that with TDR, the government was contradicting the central government which promised fair compensation to owners who were displaced due to land acquisition. “How is TDR fair?” asked D’Souza. “In the next 10 years, the land that has been sold will have a better price,” he said.
Roshan Mathias angrily voiced his concerns over the government being hell bent on trying to benefit from the development lobby, since the mining and tourism industries were no longer as profitable as they once were. “They are hell bent on taking as much as they can because after five years, nothing will be left,” said Mathias.
