Planning with the people - Soter

Article published in the Herald, 26th April 2013 Planning with the people Soter D’Souza Six years on, the Tu Tu Main Main between and among Civil Society Groups (CSG) on the Regional Plan (RP) for Goa continues without any just, rational and logical solution in sight. While some demand that RP 2021 be scrapped and a new RP be prepared by incorporating the Village Plans approved by the Gram Sabhas and Municipalities under the Seventy-third and Seventy-fourth Constitution Amendments, others push for a RP- 2021 to be in place as soon as possible after incorporating minor alterations. The government has been too happy to play along and give the real estate mafia ample scope to operate in a flux. The realisation that the Jhansi Ki Ranis, Arjunas and Duryodhanas of the Anti-RP 2011 movement have lost the case for the village people way back in 2007 has yet to sink in. Village people are ignorant of the fact that some prominent leaders of the movement had resisted the demand for a decentralised planning law to be put in place before preparation of the new RP. That the relentless pounding for a decentralised planning process by some activists had only provoked the leadership of the movement to scream out at a meeting saying, “Do you want the Gram Sabha to decide on how I should use my 4000 sq. metres of land in their village?” In hindsight, the Anti-RP2011 agitation appears to have been nothing more than a twin political ploy of tarnishing the image of then TCP Minister Babush Monserrate and a desperate attempt by local real-estate lobby to protect its political clout and economic prospects which were being threatened with the advent of real estate sharks from beyond the borders of Goa. The ‘Save Goa’ slogan was only a sugar-coating to make their selfish interests palatable to the aam aadmi. After the scrapping of the RP-2011, the movement to ‘Save Goa’ has only been about exploiting a brand name to entertain the public and frustrate any attempts of the people in up-rooting the present colonial and feudal planning structures and systems that vested political interests and the real-estate cartel are hell bent in preserving. It should not surprise anyone that six years later the prominent Civil Society Groups (CSG) do not have in place a blue-print of a vision and model on planning structures and processes for Goa that would give them direction in their struggle towards a just and sustainable RP? Way back in 2010, the Council for Social Justice and Peace (CSJP) had submitted a new planning structure to the government but the CSGs never bothered to even debate upon this proposal probably because they were too busy readying for their much sought after parivartan in 2012. Opposition to the RP has been empty rhetoric interspersed with the use of popular and emotive jargon like the 73rd and 74th Constitution Amendment. The contradictions get exposed when the groups continue to insist for a RP under the present out-dated TCP law. The entire debate on planning in villages has been so orchestrated as to revolve around the Town and Country Planning Department instead of the Directorate of Panchayats. There is no thrust from these CSGs to demand that the Ward Development Committees are made operational for preparation of a Five-year Perspective Plan for every village which will ultimately culminate into a District Development Plan (DDP). Once these grass-root planning systems are in place for every village can the Regional Plan ignore these DDPs which enjoy a constitutional status? The grouse expressed against the RP-2021 by some groups that their Village Plans approved by the Gram Sabha were not incorporated in the RP-2021 lacks any credibility. Where is the legal sanctity and compulsion for their Village Plans to be respected under the present TCP law? Were their Village Plans at least prepared in accordance with the prescribed rules under the Panchayat law? In fact, by succumbing to the allurement to participate in the devious and illicit process of consultation on the RP -2021 under the TCP Act, the Gram Sabhas have actually endorsed an illegitimate process and ensured their own alienation from their constitutional right to plan for their village. Socio-economic planning in villages is meaningless without adequate ownership rights of the people over their common natural resource of the village. The Article 243 ZD of the constitution is emphatic on this aspect with the use of the words, “including spatial planning”. Should not the Goa Town and Country Planning Laws respect the constitutional provisions? If yes, then how come a Regional Planning process for Goa being undertaken based on a law enacted in 1975, and which has not been amended after the seventy-third and seventy fourth constitution amendments came into force on 24th April 1993, is being endorsed by the CSGs? How can Goans expect fair results in a process where the goal posts and boundary lines are blurred or constantly shifted depending on whose interests are to be served? The planning and governance structures of this country stand drastically altered with the historic Seventy-third and Seventy-third Constitution Amendments. Since 1993, there is a third-tier of government introduced at the Village and Municipal Level, whether the urban elite and feudal minded activists like it or not. The 21st century for Goa must be about Self-Governance and Decentralization. A colonially inherited law on planning and development structures, policies and .processes solely vested in a Board comprising of a bunch of politicians, bureaucrats, political favourites from real estate and allied professionals, and a Chief Town Planner is simply unacceptable. The Zilla Panchayat heads who are chairpersons of the District Development Committees need to be given their constitutional political space on all planning bodies of the Government that impact development in villages. The democratic and constitutional space of the people in planning and governance through the institution of the Gram Sabha must be respected and enforced. The people enjoy a constitutional right to decide the socio-economic and spatial development of their village. They cannot be alienated from this right by the citing of some select sub-clause of a section in the Goa Panchayat Act. It is this prospect of a shift in power structures that is sending shivers within the ranks of the Goan feudal and corporate minded activists who are trying to preserve the colonial system of planning by pushing for the finalisation of the RP -2021 in its present form. In short, going by the current trends adopted by some CSGs on the RP, the tussle seems not about Goa Bachao (Save Goa) which would mean Goans being ready to even sacrifice their economic gains for the protection of Goa, but more about Goa Hatao (Scrap Goa) where the economic interests of an elite club of Goans is furthered free from external threats while they loot and plunder Goa at their own sossegado pace. An RP in the present form, governed by archaic planning laws which do not respect the constitutional space of the people and their self-governments, cannot be accepted at any cost. The people living in Goa’s villages must have the last word on their future in any plan for Goa. It is the constitutional duty of the Government to make this possible. http://www.oheraldo.in/newscategory/Opinions/14