Panaji: Revolutionary Goans on Friday marched to the office of Town and Country Planning Department objecting to the recent amendment to the Planning Act giving unbridled control over the land use to certain lobbies.
Revolutionary Goans, state’s youngest political party which has its representation in the Legislative Assembly, has accused State TCP Minister Vishwajit Rane of taking unilateral decision of amending the Act, without taking locals into confidence.
More than 200 people under the banner of Revolutionary Goans marched to the TCP office at Patto area in Panaji. They were stopped by police.
A delegation of RG including its chief Manoj Parab, MLA Viresh Borkar and another official met TCP official at the department’s head office.
Talking to reporters after meeting the official, Parab accused the State government and Rane of trying to overburden the resources of the state in order to please certain lobby.
He said that the Golf Courses are being created to allow the real estate flourish in the coastal state. “Government do not have the data of how many Goans are without their own home but on the other hand, it is busy creating multi dwellings for the non-Goans,” he said.
RG’s MLA Viresh Borkar said that the details of the Amended Act should be published in local Konkani and Marathi language by the government. “Let the people understand and approve what the government has decided,” he said.
Recently, in a bid to implement the amended Goa Land Development and Building Construction (Amendment) Regulations 2022 Act, the TCP Board led by Rane had invited public suggestions and objections within 30 days to finalise the draft regulations.
The last date for accepting the suggestions is September 27, 2022.
The Revolutionary Goans opposed the move of the Town and Country Planning (TCP) Department, stating that the government wants to destroy Goa by implementing the amended Act.
On Thursday, apparently reacting to the objection by Revolutionary Goans, Rane had posted on his Facebook profile “while deciding which activities would be permitted, we took great care to ensure that these activities would not densify the areas and place an additional burden on the state’s infrastructure.”
“We have also focused on and emphasized not causing any damage to the environment,” he added.
Rane said “to accomplish this, we have decided to engage the services of Indian Green Building Council who will assist in the design and monitoring of various projects.”
The minister wrote “aspects related to resource conversation will be adhered to, which will include site planning and management, environmentally friendly landscape species selection, material selection, energy efficiency, operation and maintenance, installation of sewage Treatment Plants, creation of catchment areas to ensure that the project is self-sufficient in water requirements and organic and non-toxic fertilizers to be used.”
Rane said that the provision of Golf Course and Film City is already made under Regional Plan 2021, however, clarity is now provided by these regulations.
“We are here to accept your constructive and positive suggestions, and are here to work towards benefit of our state,” he added.
