In a move which is likely to heighten confrontation with village groups and a large number of panchayats, Chief Minister Digambar Kamat ruled out de-notifying the Regional Plan of 2021. He even refused to withdraw it under Section 17 and 17C of the Town and Country Planning Act 1974 which allows the government to withdraw the plan either in its entirety or in parts.
In a meeting with editors in Goa, on Wednesday, the Chief Minister said “If we de-notify or withdraw, we will have to go back to the earlier notified plan of 2001. Licences will have to be issued under that plan”.
Taking questions after a detailed presentation by members of the State Level Committee on the plan, where several questions raised by the village level groups were sought to be addressed, the Chief Minister said, “We will surely consider rectification but not revision and this can happen by keeping the present plan functional.”
The entire SLC led by Charles Correa, alarmingly rejected the strong letter by Edgar Ribeiro, a former member of the task force, asking for the de-notification of the plan. Correa even went to the extent of saying that Ribeiro did not write the last line of the letter “For this the RPG needs to be de-notified”. Correa said that Edgar Ribeiro has subsequently denied having written that line. Incidentally, there is nothing on record from Edgar Ribeiro denying that line either, so it’s not clear on what basis Correa made this assumption.
The suggestion of some of the editors that all construction licences should be put on hold till all the representations from the villages are studied was also not agreed upon. Here the Chief Minister said, “How can we do that. It’s a notified plan. But there will be clear clause that these permissions will be ‘interim’ permissions and can be revoked later.”
Earlier, commencing the presentation, SLC member Rahul Deshpande addressed the contentious issue of road widths. “These road widths have been there since 1971. They have only been highlighted now. No homes have been demolished in the past. The widths include the setbacks that will be needed in the future.”
While the government has not officially acknowledged Edgar Ribeiro’s letter, the SLC sought to defend two key charges levelled, a new regional land use called micro industries and eco tourism zones. Rahul Deshpande said, “We have done what we felt good for Goa. That is why a draft is a draft. Even if it was not in the regional plan process, these suggestions came up from village panchayats themselves. So we have incorporated them.”
On the issue of planning the development of municipal towns through ODP’s and keeping them out of the RP 2021, the Chief Minister said, “ODP’s have gone through a process of law, the planning for these places was not in the domain of the SLC. A comprehensive development plan for these places will be made. So there is no conflict.”
The Chief Minister’s meeting was in the light of intense public uprising against the plan and the December 16 rally on the eve of Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s rally in the state.
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