The recent protest at Azad Maidan demanding the scrapping of section 39A of the Town and Country Planning Act comes after villagers from Siridao-Palem in St Andre Assembly constituency in North Goa staged a sit-in at the office of Town and Country Planning Department office, demanding revocation of land “correction” of several plots approved under section 39A of the TCP Act. It's alleged that over 84,000 square metres of the land in the village, including hill slopes, orchards and no development zones, was being converted into a settlement zone, allowing for construction by the TCP department by misusing provisions under section 39 A of the TCP Act, which was notified in 2024. Citizens have already flagged a collaborative failure in governance, with infrastructure projects remaining stalled, leading to broken promises and a decline in public trust. The responsibilities are blurred, and decisions affecting people are being taken without transparency. This can only bore ill for the future of the State. The government through these provisions is accelerating the destruction of Goa's ecological heritage. These mechanisms are primarily serving the interests of private developers and large scale projects to the detriment of the State's green zones.
