In their bid to make people's participation process a legal part of the State land development planning, the Goa Bachav Abhiyan (GBA) and village groups have demanded that the Goa Town and Country Planning Act (TCP), 1974, be repealed.
Sabina Martins and Reboni Saha of the GBA on Tuesday said that they would approach MLAs from various parties and urge them to pressure the Goa government to formulate a new TCP Act.
The GBA and village groups demanded that the draft Goa TCP Act of 1998 (prepared by the State TCP Department and discussed with legislators and others in 1998) be introduced in the coming session of the State Assembly.
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What seems to have made the agitating groups apprehensive is the lack of commitment from Chief Minister Digambar Kamat to their demand recently that the Goa Regional Plan 2021 (RP2021), which is in the finalisation process, be made effective across the State and include even the Planning and Development Authorities (PDAs) and Outline Development Plan (ODP) areas which have been hitherto kept out of its purview.
Ms. Martins said they opposed truncated RP 2021 and instead wanted a truly “One Goa-One Plan.”
The groups have been urging the government to make RP 2021 “supreme” as regards State's land-use planning and ensure that all entities and stakeholders follow it in letter and spirit.
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Not recognised
“Today, even the draft RP 2021 has not been officially recognised by the TCP Act, 1974, as the master plan for Goa as it is stated to lack legal validity for implementation,” Ms. Martins said.