A host of critical issues concerning the amendment to the plaguing Goa's Land Use Planning and Building Regulations took centre stage at an awareness programme organized by Goyche Fudle Pilge Khatir here on Monday.
Social activists have slammed the draft amendment, vowing to challenge the controversial amendments in court.
Architect Dean D'Cruz said the amendments will destroy the low-lying fields, orchards and private forests if these become law.
He said the time has come for the people of Goa to come on the streets to stop the nonsense.
Activist Claude Alvares termed the amendments as nothing but nonsense. He said the Town and Country Planning Act will be rendered redundant if the amendments become law.
He said the activists will challenge the amendments in court.
Goa Bachao Abhiyan leader Sabina Martins said Goa would be left with no fields if the amendments are passed. She has appealed to the people to file their objections to the Amendments before May 26.
The meeting resolved and formulated point-wise objections to the Goa Land Development and Building Construction Regulations 2023 which will be submitted to the Chief Town Planner on 26 May.
Goyche Fudle Pilge Khatir convenor Jack Mascarenhas said the land cover of the forest and low-lying flood plains are very critical to the climate change issues of today's world.
"These are the issues which need consideration not just in our Land Use planning but also the land and building regulations as mere titles of eco-sensitive or green zones will not serve the purpose if the regulations defeat the very objective of categorising land in these titles," he said.
He pointed out that the Regional Plan 2021 of Goa was formulated with one objective of identifying Eco-1 zone almost 54.06% as to be left untouched and Eco-2 zone almost 26.29% as ecologically important in which essential but only very minor interventions were to be permitted.
"Paddy fields, Khazans, Forest covers, NDZ are all Eco-1 and Heritage areas, orchards, irrigation command areas are Eco-2. Both these are facing a conflict of the objectives set out in the RP 2021 and the MoEFCC definitions, as Farm houses of 1000 sq.m., allied to agricultural uses like research centres, sports facilities, religious structures, dairy processing units and yoga/meditation centres are being allowed," he said.
Jack further said the amendments proposed therefore appear to have no vision, insensitive to the environment of Goa, conflict of planning objectives and even conflict within the building regulations themselves, demanding the scrapping of the amendments.
