PANAJI
A 32 to seven majority in a 40-member House is no mean advantage for any government to enjoy in a legislature.
And, the Pramod Sawant government has lost no opportunity to bank on this brute majority to have its way whenever the occasion arose, legislative precedents and conventions be damned.
Yet, the miniscule Opposition comprising just seven legislators, six of whom are first-timers, scored a few brownie points during the just concluded monsoon session of the Goa legislative assembly by forcing the government to withdraw multiple legislations its ministers had introduced in the House, a happenstance rare in Goa's legislative history.
Industries Minister Mauvin Godinho began the trend of the government conceding to Opposition demands and withdrawing a bill which was already introduced.
Pointing to grave flaws and possible misuse to arbitrarily declare areas and regions as industrial areas, the Opposition had demanded that the Goa Industrial Development (Amendment) Bill, 2024, be referred to the Select Committee.
So convincing were the arguments against the bill from Opposition members that the debate at the consideration stage of the bill sent floor managers in the treasury benches into a brief huddle culminating with Godinho expressing his desire to seek leave of the House to withdraw it.
“I will withdraw the bill and reintroduce it on Monday after incorporating the recommendations,” Godinho said. The bill however got shelved and Godinho didn't return to reintroduce it.
The common fear expressed by the Opposition members was that the government wanted to trample upon the powers of local bodies (panchayats and municipalities) and usurp power to declare any land as industrial land.
Next was the turn of Health Minister Vishwajit Rane who withdrew not one but four bills at a stretch, including the controversial amendment bill which sought to insulate all past and future acts of the Chief Town Planner related to land-use zone conversions from judicial review.
Rane also withdrew three others bills pertaining to the health and urban development portfolios he also holds -- the Goa Clinical Establishments (Registration and Regulation) (Amendment) Bill, 2024, the Goa Municipalities (Amendment) Bill, 2024, and the City of Panaji Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2024.
Opposition Leader Yuri Alemao and AAP's Benualim MLA Venzy Viegas were vociferously opposed to the TCP bill accusing the government of being hell-bent to convert land
Viegas pointed out that the TCP Act permits 'corrections' of the Regional Plan but it is being used to convert lands even as he demanded that some mega projects which were already advertising like Bhutami Project, Lodha project in Bicholim and DLF's upmarket project on the Verem hill be withdrawn the permissions as they were brazenly violating laws.
Finally, on the penultimate day of the 18-day session, it was the turn of the chief minister himself to concede to the Opposition's demand and agree to refer a government bill to a select committee.
Standing in for Godinho, who was reportedly indisposed, Sawant had stood up to have the Goa Investment Promotion and Facilitation of Single Window Clearance (Amendment) Bill, 2024 considered and passed by the House.
It was met with vehement objections from the Opposition to several clauses of the bill, particularly the one which sought to create a Planning, Development and Construction Committee of the IPB headed by the Chief Secretary with sweeping powers over and above all other statutory authorities and any State law, including the TCP Act, Land Revenue Code and other land laws.
Alemao, Viegas, Vijai Sardesai and Carlos Alvares Ferreira, all termed this committee as a ‘super government’ which would gobble the powers of panchayats and municipalities while also opening the floodgates for indiscriminate change of land-use zoning of eco-sensitive zones in the name of investment promotion and job creation.
Sensing the mood of the Opposition MLAs and taking note of the objective reservations they had over the provisions in the bill, Sawant responded by saying the government had no objection to refer the bill to a select committee while asserting that the intention of the government was to ensure industry and investment is facilitated.
