Why Regional Plan is Regional Pain – I
By Nandkumar M Kamat
I remember the afternoon in December 2005 when I got a call to attend a meeting of experts convened by Council for Social Justice and Peace (CSJP) at the palace of the Archibishop to discuss issues regarding the Final draft Report (FDR) of the Regional Plan of Goa- 2011. The reference was to Government Notification NO. 29 /8 / TCP / 2005 / 3338 dated 18th November 2005. I have never declined such invitations from CSJP because I have full and unshakable faith in the ecological, environmental, social and ethical concerns of the universal Roman Catholic Church in Goa. After detail discussion and deliberations, a representation to the then Chief Town Planner (CTP) Morad Ahmed was drafted. Signed by the then in charge of CSJP, father Valeriano Vaz, all the points and questions sent to town and country planning department on December 13, 2005 in the petition by CSJP seem absolutely valid even today.
Somehow these questions never subsequently became the major points to pin down and expose previous or present governments and their style of self-righteous and destructive governance in the name of physical development by drastically changing the land use. The entire misdirected, misguided and misleading discourse on new Avatar of RP-2011, the much hyped RP-2021 has to be reoriented to address the same points and questions which are reproduced here from that petition.
The December 2005 petition to CTP mentioned that – “ The FDR had not taken into consideration the existence, the spirit and the statutory provisions of the 73rd and 74 th Amendments to the Constitution of India which make it mandatory for the state Government to involve local Bodies in the formulation of the developmental / Regional Plan for the State.
In October 1998 in view of the Constitutional Amendments act (73rd and 74thAmendments), the Town and Country Planning Department had convened a high level Conference, called “Goa Beyond 2000” to discuss a “New Regional Plan for Goa” and a “Model Town and Country Planning Act”.
The Draft of the “Goa Town and Country Planning Act, (revised), based on Model Urban and Regional Planning and development Law (revised) prepared by Ministry of Urban Affairs and Employment, Government of India, New Delhi”, officially printed at the Government Printing Press (78 pp 14 chapters, 189 clauses) made available in print then, envisaged devolution of spatial planning powers (chapter IV, V) to District Planning Committees and Local Bodies.
The preamble of the said act, titled ‘The Goa Town and country planning act, 1998’, said –“An act to provide for the promotion of development and regulation of growth or urban and rural areas in the state as a consequence of constitution (73rd and 74th Amendment Act, 1992) and for the purposes connected with the matters aforesaid.”
The petition had pointed out that Government had remained silent till date on this important document and the FDR was seriously flawed in as much as it has made its recommendations on the basis of the outdated data such as the use of Census 1991 data even though the data of Census 2001 was available to those concerned at the time of the preparation of the final Report.
CSJP had a vision of future so it had warned- “In view of the above it would be impractical to accept the so called Revised Regional Plan ie FDR in its ’present form’.
Cautioning the government ten years ago this timely petition had said- “The Government should not Act or proceed on this FDR or take steps to implement it in whole or in part, in its present or revised form unless and until it makes its role categorically very clear, giving satisfactory and official written or printed explanations in a democratic, transparent, responsible and accountable manner, specifically on the following pertinent issues- Steps taken for the devolution of planning powers to local authorities under 73rd and 74th Amendments, the status and the fate of the draft act called ‘The Goa Town and country planning act, 1998’ officially printed and circulated in 1998 and the reasons for not proceeding with it; the details of functioning of District Planning Committees constituted in 2004; Success or failure in meeting the objectives of the previous Regional Plan, 2001 on basis of a sector by sector review; Success or failure in exercising the mandate of State Land Use Board and State Land Resources Management Committee vis a vis National Land Use Policy, National Policy on Pastures, National Agricultural Policy etc on basis of an independent review; Success or failure of various Planning and Development Authorities (PDAs), dissolved and reconstituted from time to time in preparing the Outline Development Plans (ODPs) and the Comprehensive Development Plans (CDPs) on basis of an independent review; the failure of the State to draft a State Rehabilitation Policy and State Rehabilitation Act to protect the rights of project affected/displaced people/project ousters before declaring any mega projects having a substantial social or ecological footprint/impact and/or before acquiring large tracts of land in “public interest”; the failure of the State to lay down a clear policy on privatisation and private participation in infrastructural projects and leaving the field wide open for procedural/legal/technical manipulation by the unscrupulous private interests/investors/promoters/developers; the failure of the State to spell out its clear and unambiguous policy consistent with the UN policy and guidelines on sustainable urbanization and formulate/prepare clear, environmentally sound, socially acceptable plans on sustainable urbanization in the state instead of encouraging any new urban townships/growth centers/urban centers/cities promoted by the government with or without private participation by sacrificing precious land assets and fragile natural habitats and the failure of the State to declare its people oriented and environment friendly housing policy which would respect and preserve Goa’s ecology, cultural identity, architectural ethos, land resources, natural habitats, watersheds and which would not encourage the influx of land sharks, real estate speculators and hoards of migrants to the state at the cost of displacement of peace loving Goans or by causing interference in their traditional way of life or livelihood.” Why these points were forgotten by Goa’s civil society?
(To be continued.)
http://www.navhindtimes.in/why-regional-plan-is-regional-pain-i/
I remember the afternoon in December 2005 when I got a call to attend a meeting of experts convened by Council for Social Justice and Peace (CSJP) at the palace of the Archibishop to discuss issues regarding the Final draft Report (FDR) of the Regional Plan of Goa- 2011. The reference was to Government Notification NO. 29 /8 / TCP / 2005 / 3338 dated 18th November 2005. I have never declined such invitations from CSJP because I have full and unshakable faith in the ecological, environmental, social and ethical concerns of the universal Roman Catholic Church in Goa. After detail discussion and deliberations, a representation to the then Chief Town Planner (CTP) Morad Ahmed was drafted. Signed by the then in charge of CSJP, father Valeriano Vaz, all the points and questions sent to town and country planning department on December 13, 2005 in the petition by CSJP seem absolutely valid even today.
Somehow these questions never subsequently became the major points to pin down and expose previous or present governments and their style of self-righteous and destructive governance in the name of physical development by drastically changing the land use. The entire misdirected, misguided and misleading discourse on new Avatar of RP-2011, the much hyped RP-2021 has to be reoriented to address the same points and questions which are reproduced here from that petition.
The December 2005 petition to CTP mentioned that – “ The FDR had not taken into consideration the existence, the spirit and the statutory provisions of the 73rd and 74 th Amendments to the Constitution of India which make it mandatory for the state Government to involve local Bodies in the formulation of the developmental / Regional Plan for the State.
In October 1998 in view of the Constitutional Amendments act (73rd and 74thAmendments), the Town and Country Planning Department had convened a high level Conference, called “Goa Beyond 2000” to discuss a “New Regional Plan for Goa” and a “Model Town and Country Planning Act”.
The Draft of the “Goa Town and Country Planning Act, (revised), based on Model Urban and Regional Planning and development Law (revised) prepared by Ministry of Urban Affairs and Employment, Government of India, New Delhi”, officially printed at the Government Printing Press (78 pp 14 chapters, 189 clauses) made available in print then, envisaged devolution of spatial planning powers (chapter IV, V) to District Planning Committees and Local Bodies.
The preamble of the said act, titled ‘The Goa Town and country planning act, 1998’, said –“An act to provide for the promotion of development and regulation of growth or urban and rural areas in the state as a consequence of constitution (73rd and 74th Amendment Act, 1992) and for the purposes connected with the matters aforesaid.”
The petition had pointed out that Government had remained silent till date on this important document and the FDR was seriously flawed in as much as it has made its recommendations on the basis of the outdated data such as the use of Census 1991 data even though the data of Census 2001 was available to those concerned at the time of the preparation of the final Report.
CSJP had a vision of future so it had warned- “In view of the above it would be impractical to accept the so called Revised Regional Plan ie FDR in its ’present form’.
Cautioning the government ten years ago this timely petition had said- “The Government should not Act or proceed on this FDR or take steps to implement it in whole or in part, in its present or revised form unless and until it makes its role categorically very clear, giving satisfactory and official written or printed explanations in a democratic, transparent, responsible and accountable manner, specifically on the following pertinent issues- Steps taken for the devolution of planning powers to local authorities under 73rd and 74th Amendments, the status and the fate of the draft act called ‘The Goa Town and country planning act, 1998’ officially printed and circulated in 1998 and the reasons for not proceeding with it; the details of functioning of District Planning Committees constituted in 2004; Success or failure in meeting the objectives of the previous Regional Plan, 2001 on basis of a sector by sector review; Success or failure in exercising the mandate of State Land Use Board and State Land Resources Management Committee vis a vis National Land Use Policy, National Policy on Pastures, National Agricultural Policy etc on basis of an independent review; Success or failure of various Planning and Development Authorities (PDAs), dissolved and reconstituted from time to time in preparing the Outline Development Plans (ODPs) and the Comprehensive Development Plans (CDPs) on basis of an independent review; the failure of the State to draft a State Rehabilitation Policy and State Rehabilitation Act to protect the rights of project affected/displaced people/project ousters before declaring any mega projects having a substantial social or ecological footprint/impact and/or before acquiring large tracts of land in “public interest”; the failure of the State to lay down a clear policy on privatisation and private participation in infrastructural projects and leaving the field wide open for procedural/legal/technical manipulation by the unscrupulous private interests/investors/promoters/developers; the failure of the State to spell out its clear and unambiguous policy consistent with the UN policy and guidelines on sustainable urbanization and formulate/prepare clear, environmentally sound, socially acceptable plans on sustainable urbanization in the state instead of encouraging any new urban townships/growth centers/urban centers/cities promoted by the government with or without private participation by sacrificing precious land assets and fragile natural habitats and the failure of the State to declare its people oriented and environment friendly housing policy which would respect and preserve Goa’s ecology, cultural identity, architectural ethos, land resources, natural habitats, watersheds and which would not encourage the influx of land sharks, real estate speculators and hoards of migrants to the state at the cost of displacement of peace loving Goans or by causing interference in their traditional way of life or livelihood.” Why these points were forgotten by Goa’s civil society?
(To be continued.)
http://www.navhindtimes.in/why-regional-plan-is-regional-pain-i/
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