Our CM Pramod Sawant had very recently declared that there were lessons to be learnt from the Wayanad tragedy and that it should be an eye opener for all. Talathis were assigned the responsibility to notify the administration if any hill cutting, illegal construction or tree felling was happening in their jurisdiction. Sawant cannot rein in his TCP minister for facilitating all kinds of pro-tragedy moves in connivance with the rapacious builders' lobby. Recently the TCP department has approved the conversion of 4,300 sq mts land to settlement zones in Ponda taluka using the notorious Section 39A of the GTCP act. This includes 15 ecologically fragile, 'no construction' land parcels which had previously been listed as orchards, natural cover and no development slopes in the Regional Plan for Goa 2021. 234 land conversion applications are being entertained by the TCP under section 39A (why don't we scrap it ?) since it was introduced as an amendment to the GTCP Act in February this year. It is as clear as daylight that the government is least interested in saving whatever little there is left of Goa, the non action and silence on the Mhadei issue is another example.
