PANAJI
Despite the majority objecting to the Ozone Group project in the village of Vanxim, locals at a meeting held in the city on Tuesday voiced their support for the project as it would bring some sort of development there.
Mansi Parab, a resident of the village pointed to the added benefit the project would bring to Vanxim, which today has to depend on the neighboring village of Divar for basic amenities.
“As of today, in the village there is no transport, no school and not even a doctor. The Ozone Group initially came into the village with a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative setting up an office and training women in making jute products. They then gave us our own self-help group where we now make jute bags on our own. We want development and most people in the village want it too,” said Parab in response to the many voices that were opposed entirely to the project.
The Investment Promotion Board (IPB) had in December approved the project to be set up on around 45,000 square meters belonging to the Ozone Group. Initially, there were fears that the entire village would be used for the project. What was noted was, while neighboring villagers raised objections to the project, villagers who were residents of Vanxim had no problem and fully emphasised their support.
Parab along with other villagers voiced their opinion at a public meeting organised by Human Rights Law Network-Goa which also discussed the Regional Plan 2021 and the IPB Act.
Taking the example of the Vanxim project, Goa Bachao Abhiyan (GBA) secretary Reboni Saha pointed to how the IPB Act had over-ruled other Acts including the Regional plan, TCP, Panchayat and Goa Land Act.
“Clearance for Ozone group on Capao (Vanxim) island was given through the IPB Act when the land is known to be tenanted and falls in the CRZ area. While the RP is trying to protect the land, Acts like these go against them. This is a back door entry that can over-ride even the Regional Plan,” she said.
Also taken up at the meeting was the issue of whether RP-21 should be scraped or not. The GBA has always maintained the plan shouldn’t be scraped for fear of reverting to the old regional plan that has no areas marked under eco zones.
A resolution was therefore taken to allow only those villages that want the plan scraped to be de-notified and restart the entire planning process again.
“Terms like eco and VP zones exist in the current plan that are not in the past ones, which need to remain. For villages with severe objections that have asked for scrapping of the plan, they should be de-notified, as a sort of part de-notification. This way at least the majority of the Plan can be retained keeping in mind the eco and VP status,” she said.
Other resolutions taken during the meeting was to have communidade land, that accounts for 70 per cent, according to architect Dean D’Cruz, be marked on the Regional Plan.
