First and foremost, kudos to all those people including genuine activists and even some opposition MLAs whose strong stand made the BJP government withdraw its controversial TCP bill which was earlier set for passing in the current assembly session. I appreciate that the TCP Minister Vishwajit Rane tried to assure the house that he is working in the interest of the Goa/Goans including the less privileged but facts still force us to be suspicious of the BJP Goa government priorities. In Benaulim/Colva area, fields are being converted and the TCP minister says the opposite i.e. fields are not being touched. Now it is declared that Pomburpa will be a "No Development Zone - NDZ which is fine but why did his dept not take action in the first place? What about Reis Magos hill cutting and clearing of forests -- was he or his dept really not aware of this destruction? Why did the TCP allow the “Lodha” mega project in Bicholim and the Bhutani Sancoale monstrosity? Goans have to force the government to ensure adequate safeguards are put in place to protect land, environment, forests, heritage and identity. We urgently need a law which takes all this into account.
