GOVT DELAYING RP2021 TO GIVE PERMISSION TO ODP'S : GBA

The Goa Bachao Abhiyan has slammed the government for deliberately delaying the regional plan 2021 so that permissions under the outline development plans can be given to the builders.

Talking to TOI, GBA convenor Sabina Martins said that the regional plan 2021 does not include the areas of the outline development plan (ODP) and all the regulations put in the RP2021 regarding eco-sensitive zones are being flouted in the ODP areas.

Martins said, "Sixty per cent of the population lives in the ODP areas, so the RP2021 seems to be futile exercise. The Town and Country planning department is uploading the suggestions of some people but the regional plan is not being uploaded onto the website. Neither are plans open to the public for inspection”.
To justify her charge that the government is delaying the RP2021 to give permissions under the ODP, Martins cites the case of the huge residential project coming up on the slopes of the Dabolim hill, which falls in Mormugao taluka and comes under the outline development plan. The GBA, the Goa Foundation, Chicalim Village Action committee, the Concerned Residents of Mormugao and others have been agitating against the project.
Martins said the project is supported by illegalities at four levels; forest department, town and country planning department, planning and development authority and village Panchayat. Martins said the developer applied to the forest department to cut trees for development purpose but has no NOC from the forest development for development purpose. "Yet the forest department has issued permission to cut trees. Though their license to cut trees expired in August, they continue to uproot trees at a furious pace," Martins said.
After a delegation of various NGOs led by the GBA met chief conservator of forests last week, he promised action. GBA is meeting the chief conservator again next week to check on what action he has taken. Next, the GBA wants to take on the town and country planning department. "The TCP has given permission for hill cutting under section 17A of the TCP Act. Government documents themselves show that the land is 30 per cent slope and under the RP2021, it is a no-development zone. So how did the TCP give the permission?" Martins asked. She also said the developer has dug borewells illegally and that is going to deplete the water table causing water shortage to the villages below the Dabolim hill. They have no plans for a sewage treatment plant and the uprooting of trees is going to cause landslides, Martins said.
The GBA is getting several complaints of hill cutting in other parts of Goa. "The police are supposed to act against the violators but they are not acting. On the other hand they were prompt in stopping our meeting at Dabolim even though we had oral permission," said Martins.
The Dabolim project is not the only worry for the NGOs. Said Martins, "In the case of Aldeia at Bambolim, the files are missing, the matter is in court, yet the construction is going on full swing with the knowledge of the court and the government. Are we heading towards a lawless society?"