For favour of publication, please. =Averthanus=
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REGIONAL PLAN AND THE LAWS.
Averthanus L. D'Souza.
For the first time in the history of Goa, we now have the final
draft of a Regional Plan which has been prepared professionally and
diligently by a Team of Professionals. This "Task Force" which was
appointed by the Chief Minister to "advise" him on how to prepare a Regional
Plan, after the previous draft of Regional Plan 2011 was unanimously and
unambiguously rejected by the citizens of Goa, has done a creditable job
of presenting a final draft Plan which has not been influenced by extraneous
considerations or by pressures from vested interests. The objectivity of
the Task Force is evident in the fact that the Draft Final Report has
already elicited some negative reactions from the Real Estate and the
Industrial lobbies.
While carefully considering submissions made by all and sundry,
including submissions made by special interest groups such as the mining
industry, the building industry, the Chambers of Commerce and Industry and
others, the Task Force has maintained its primary focus on the balanced and
integral development of the State of Goa.
Goa's Regional Plan and the Constitutional Amendments.
The distinguishing feature of the Final Draft of the Regional
Plan 2021 is that it is consistent with the requirements of the 73rd and
74th amendments to the Constitution of India. The draft repeatedly
alludes to the requirements of the amendments and insists that Goa's
planning should be in conformity with these requirements. Accordingly, the
draft RP 2021 has proposed the sub-division of the Regional Plan into two
distinct District Level Plans - for North Goa and South Goa. Consistent
with this structural reform, the Draft proposes that each of the Talukas
have its own Taluka level plans ( 5 for South Goa and 6 for North Goa)
which have to be integrated into the District Level Plans.
Regional (Spatial) Planning and the Economic (Five Year)
Planning process.
The Task Force has taken cognizance of the close
inter-relationship between the Economic Planning process and the preparation
of the Regional Plan. Since these two processes are closely intertwined,
the Task Force recommends the re-vivification of the District Planning
Boards. This will bring about a more comprehensive and a more integrated
process of planning for Goa. This is a radical departure from the past and
makes the present Draft Plan unique. As the Draft Report of the Task Force
puts it: Sec.1.2.2. - The Regional Plan 2021 is not just an update of the
Regional Plan 2001. It is a completely novel approach to spatial planning
in Goa.
The recommendations of the Task Force will require a complete
revamp of the structures of planning. They will also require a complete
(and radical) change in the processes of data collection, collation,
analysis and integration at all levels. It has drawn attention to the
inadequacy and the unreliability of the data presently in the possession of
several Government Departments. In Sec. 1.1.5. of the Report, the Task
Force observes that ". it is clear that there is a need to strengthen data
collection at all levels. Government departments continue giving least
importance to data collection and collation. Initial records which are at
many times erroneous and kept perpetuating leading to wrong inferences
being drawn.."
It should not come as a surprise to anyone that the planning of
land use in Goa and the economic health of the State are closely
inter-related. The allocation of land for various purposes has a direct
impact on the economy. To the ordinary citizen it has come as a great
relief that the Task Force has not succumbed to the pressures of either the
industrial lobby or the Real Estate lobby. These lobbies have been
seeking to expand their own interests at the cost of the overall good of the
State. Mining, industry and building of houses (mega-housing projects)
have been aggressively promoted even at the cost of ecological degradation.
Forests, agricultural fields and even the waterways in the State were sought
to be destroyed merely for the sake of bigger profits for the Miners, the
Builders and the Industrialists. The Task Force has, thankfully,
maintained a healthy balance between industrial development and the
conservation of the natural ecology of this beautiful State. It has
identified areas of great ecological importance covering an area of 54.06 %
of the entire State of Goa, and has classified them under an Eco 1 Zone,
which places them completely outside any 'development' activity. Another
Zone classified as Eco 2 comprising of 26.29 % of Goa's land area comprises
of areas which are also eco-sensitive, but where, very minor 'development'
interventions may be allowed, after due examination. The Task Force has
also done well to identify a special category of "Heritage" areas, which
will be protected by Law, just as in the Eco 1. zone.
Such categorization of land areas is most welcome and will,
hopefully, put an end to the ravaging incursions of the Mining and other
industries as well as Real Estate Developers.
The Task Force has observed that the ODPs and the CDPs are not consistent
with the Regional Plan (vide Sec. 1.2.1.) This is a grave anomaly in the
existing system, which needs to be eliminate
The Task Force has also unambiguously rejected the setting up of
Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in the State. These SEZs, which were imposed
on the State by the Central Government created widespread resentment among
the people of Goa, which, eventually resulted in the State Government
appealing to the Centre to cancel all the approvals given to land sharks who
had sought to pillage and plunder this State.
The legal framework for the Regional Plan 2021.
The most important aspect of any Regional Plan is that it should
be situated within a framework of appropriate legislation, which gives
sanctity to the Plan. A Regional Plan should be treated with the greatest
respect, as any other Law; and any attempt to operate outside this Plan, or
to corrupt any of its parameters, should be treated with the severest of
penalties - just as the criminal law prescribes punishment for those who
transgress the Law. This is particularly relevant in the case of Goa,
which has seen politicians (of all shades of ideologies) using the Regional
Plan, not to promote the betterment of the State, but to plunder it and
amass private fortunes at the cost of the general welfare of the people.
It is high time that politicians are taught to respect the Law. In order to
do this, there is urgent need to take a fresh look at all existing
legislation in this State and to make them conformable to the Constitution
of India.
The Task Force has alluded to the need for the Government to
revisit the existing laws in the light of its recommendations. It has
devoted an entire Chapter (Chapter IX) to this issue. In section 9.1.2. the
Task Force observes that "The TF through its consultative process has
recognized that the Goa Town and Country Planning Act, 1974 needs a crucial
amendment that restricts the Goa Government from processing land use changes
." In the following section 9.1.3. it also observes that "The Goa Town
and Country Planning Board has also to firmly stress that the ODPs/CDPs are
an integral part of the Regional Plan 2021."
The Draft Final Report of the Task Force also recommends
re-examination of the Goa Panchayat Raj Act, 1968; the Goa Municipalities
Act, 1968 and the Corporation of the City of Panaji Act, 2002 in the light
of the recommendations made in this Draft Final Report.
It has been the consistent contention of this writer that the
Town and Country Planning Act, 1974 was conceptualised and formulated in
1974 much before the 73rd and 74th amendments to the Constitution of India,
and that the assumptions on which the TCP Act were based are not only
obsolete, but are, in fact, contrary to the spirit and the letter of the
73rd and 74th amendments. Therefore, it will not be appropriate merely to
introduce amendments to the TCP Act, 1974. This would be like introducing
wooden sections into a broken steel structure in order to hold it together.
The entire structure has become irrelevant and needs to be replaced. It is
strongly recommended that the Government of Goa repeal the existing Goa,
Daman and Diu Town and Country Planning Act, 1974 and replace it with a new
piece of legislation which is more relevant and which incorporates the
recommendations of the Task Force. Space does not allow a detailed
exposition of the anomalies in the existing TCP Act, 1974, but there are
plenty of internal inconsistencies in the structure of the Act, as well as
conflicts with the Constitution of India. The existence of Planning and
Development Authorities separate from the Town and Country Planning
Department which function as autonomous bodies is only one glaring example
of such structural dysfunctions in the TCP Act. Nothing short of the
complete repeal of the Act and its replacement by another Act will meet the
recommendations of the Task Force and the current situation in Goa.
Simultaneously, the Government of Goa needs to take a fresh look
at the existing Goa Panchayat Raj Act, 1968; the Goa Municipalities Act,
1968 and the Corporation of the City of Panaji Act, 2002; as recommended by
the Task Force, (9.2.8.) to remove the anomalies both within, as well as
between these Acts.
This appears to be the right time for the Government to appoint
another Task Force or a Law Commission to examine the existing laws of the
State of Goa and to make recommendations to bring them up-to-date and remove
all the inconsistencies which are presently bugging the system.
Averthanus L. D'Souza,
D-13, La Marvel Colony,
Dona Paula, Goa 403 004.
Tel: 2453628.
