Despite pending PIL in High Court and public unrest, the TCP department continues its unrestrained conversion of ‘natural cover’ into ‘settlement’ in Regional Plan 2021. 919 sq meters of paddy field has been corrected and marked as a settlement zone in Raia, Salcete.
Amidst opposition from the public and a pending PIL in the High Court, the TCP (Town and Country Planning) department has continued to convert natural cover into a settlement under the guise of correcting errors in the Regional Plan 2021. This time a massive area of natural cover measuring 50,000 sq mtrs was converted into a settlement in Assagoa village.
The Chief Town Planner (CTP), following the approval by the State government to modify and alter RP 2021, has allowed the conversion of 48,200 sq mtrs of land under Survey No 69, Sub-Division 1 in Assagao. Another 1,810 sq mtrs surveyed under Survey No. 192, Sub-Division 1 in Assagao was converted from a natural cover zone to a settlement zone based on a notification issued on May 29. The application for the first rectification was made on March 27, and another one was submitted on April 11.
“The Government has considered the reports and it is of the opinion that alteration/modification is necessary to be carried out to the RPG-2021 for the purpose of rectifying inadvertent error that has occurred in the RPG-2021 and it had directed the Chief Town Planner to carry out alteration/modification to the RPG-2021 for the purpose of correcting/rectifying the zone of the said plots which is earmarked as a natural cover zone as per RPG-2021, to settlement zone by issuing notification under sub-section(2) of Section 17 of the said Act,” the notification read. Further, in Raia village, 919 sq mtrs of paddy field had been corrected and marked as a settlement zone under Survey No. 229, Sub-Division No 12-D.
Sedgaonkar of Betim, Mayur Shetgaonkar of Morjim and Swapnesh Sherlekarof Bicholim. These three activists have filed an amended PIL writ petition before the High Court of Bombay at Goa requesting to strike down Section 17 and Sub-Section 2 of the Goa TCP Act. Section 17(2) gives power to the CTP(Chief Town Planner) and the government to make changes to the Regional Plan for correcting and rectifying errors in the plan. Some claim that it is a guise to give the government and the TCP Power to make changes to the Regional Plan. The petitioners argued that Section 17(2) of the TCP Act does not leave space for public consultation before the government finalizes any changes in the regional plan to correct any “inconsistent/incoherent zoning proposals in RP. They said that to make changes in the RP, the public should be consulted.
TCP department continues its rampant act of changing orchards and natural cover to settlements against the interest of the public. Activists submit a PIL writ petition against the amendment of Section 17(2) in the Regional Plan to the High Court of Bombay at Goa.
