Friday, December 12, 2008

Goa Regional plan 2021 – GBA demands open study, more time.

The regional plan 2021 is again in the news, obviously for the wrong reasons. Thgoa bachao abhiyan meetingse Goa Bachao Abhiyan expressed its apprehensions on various issues relating to the Goa regional plan 2021 and demanded that the draft regional plan 2021 be kept open for study for a month (from the date of the notification) before it is notified to enable the citizens of Goa to see the final plan.

The convenor of the GBA, Ms Sabina Martins said that the time of 90 days for filing objections is faulty and should be counted from the date of the last briefing of the Taluka Level Technical Team (TLTT) which was held from 1st December to the 7th of December 2008. Currently the 90 day period has begun from the date of notification of the plan i.e October 8 2008 which would therefore expire in 90 days on January 7 2009, leaving hardly three weeks for the citizens to decide and react.

The GBA also complained about the non-availability of the explanations regarding the plan in the state’s official language Konkani, which was commonly understood by majority of the panch members and the citizens.

Questioning the wisdom of the regional plan processes overriding the gramsabha resolutions, Ms Martins demanded that the gram sabha decisions be honoured as per the law.

The GBA has agoa todaylso demanded that the regional plan 2021 be kept open with explanations of changes before notification for the public to get a clear picture of the final outcome. Citing the example of Pilerne where the taluka level maps and the village level maps fraud was detected, the GBA feared that such mischief could be played again this time.

The GBA also demanded transparency from the government and urged a freeze on all interim regulations and instead revert to the old Development and planning regulations before the regional plan comes into effect with its own set.

Urging the people of Goa to show more involvement the Goa Bachao Abhiyan, has asked citizens of Goa to use the draft regional plan 2021 village plans as the basis for developing village plans and to check for discrepancies where the village maps differ from the maps provided in the policy document.

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