Using the ill-conceived section 39A, the TCP department is illegally converting our lush paddy fields, hills, plateaus, orchards, water bodies and other eco-sensitive areas to 'settlement zone' and handing it over to builders, facilitating unchecked construction all over the state. Funnily enough individual land use zoning changes are being termed as 'corrections' though they are the gravest 'mistakes' being committed by the sarkar. How much more 'concretisation' can Goa take ? Our beautiful state has breached it's carrying capacity long back and now we are staring at year round water shortage, power outages, overcrowding, influx of migrants and rising crime. We often blame 'outsiders' for Goa's plight but when the state government itself is dishing out land on a platter to builders, investors from Delhi and Bombay then what right do we have to complain. Selectively revoking 39A in some areas is simply a tactic to buy time and of no practical benefit. As all right thinking individuals and organisations are demanding, the criminal 39A provision needs to be annulled with retrospective effect and consigned to the dustbin of history. The coming generations shall thank you for this.
