Digital Goa, May 25- In a major decision, TCP Minister Vishwajit Rane has decided to reverse back “wrongly” converted land in Regional Plan 2021 from non-settlement to settlement zone, which is to the tune of 6 crore sqr mtr, after scrutiny by expert committee on case to case basis. Claiming that 6 crore sqr mtr of land has been converted in Regional Plan 2021 from settlement zones to natural cover, orchards, and non-development slopes in the name of rationalization by the previous committee, Rane said that his department will form an expert committee to scrutinize the discrepancies and get them corrected and reversed. “We will conduct a case-by-case inquiry, and the survey numbers of each land will be reversed,” said Rane.
▪️ Officers involved will be punished and suspended if required
The committee report will be made public in the next three months. The names of the members and minutes of the meeting will be brought into the public domain. Also, a detailed report will be presented to the floor of the house, and the officers involved in such an act will be punished and, if required, suspended before the next assembly session, said Rane.
▪️ Expert Committee to scrutinize all the cases under Section 17(2) of the TCP Act
TCP department will have an expert committee scrutinize all the cases under Section 17(2) of the TCP Act. The committee notified by the govt will have on board members such as the Chairman of the Environment Appraisal Committee, scientists from the Centre for Environment Education, architects, engineers, legal experts, the President of GCCI, and officials from the Government of Goa, who will assist and work in tandem with the TCP Department, said Rane. The amended Section 17(2) of the TCP Act allows the chief town planner to correct “inadvertent errors” in a notified regional plan
Environmental Activists are up in arms against the amendment which gives TCP the power to correct “inadvertent errors” in the Regional Plan 2021 and change zones of land from non-settlement to settlement. They also held a protest and awareness meet in this regards at Margao recently.
