July 31, 2018

PORVORIM: On the same day that town and country planning (TCP) minister Vijai Sardesai complained of 1 crore sqm of orchard land being illegally developed, the state government went ahead and passed the Goa Town and Country Planning (Amendment) Bill, 2018, allowing the TCP to change land zoning based on individual requests.

While Sardesai spoke of protecting orchard land and lodging FIRs against violators during Question Hour, he was facing flak from the opposition in the evening session for opening the floodgates for more land conversions.

Opposition leader Chandrakant Kavlekar moved a motion to transfer the bill to the select committee, but the motion was defeated with 21 legislators voting against it and 15 voting in its favour. NCP’s Benaulim MLA Churchill Alemao supported the government to defeat the opposition’s motion.

As the government passed the bill, opposition MLAs walked out of the House.

TCP will have three new tools, which include Accommodation Reservation, Transferable Development Rights (TDR) and Transferable Development Rights for Posterity (TDR for Posterity).

Sardesai, earlier, told the House that the amendment has been introduced to “give justice to the people.” Chief minister Manohar Parrikar assured the opposition that the government will form a committee to frame the rules. He said that opposition members and experts would be included in the committee. “If the revenue department regularises (illegal) houses and TCP department does not change the zone, then these structures will continue to remain irregular. We want to do things legally that is why Section 16 B has been inserted in the TCP amendment,” he said.

Curtorim MLA Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco said that there is a lot of confusion in the mind of people about TDR. “What is the intention of the government? Is it going to help the builder or is it going to help the public? There are apprehension in the minds of the people,” he said, adding that people have sought clarifications about TDR and the amendment bill must be referred to a select committee.

When Kavlekar asked why the government was refusing to send the bill to the select committee, Sardesai replied that as the opposition did not move an amendment, it meant that there was no objection to the bill. “If there was seriousness, then the opposition should have moved an amendment. There is no need to send this bill to the select committee,” he said. “To save Goa, we need to change the law. Accommodation Reservation or TDR is being incorporated to get public amenities in all constituencies and not for private players or builders. TDR is a planning tool that will help to take land for public amenities and give land owners higher floor area ratio (FAR),” Sardesai said. “TDR for Posterity is a new planning tool to keep a balance between preserving Goa’s identity and development. “This is the first time in the country and this could be the basis of preparing the future regional plan,” he said. “Inserting Section 16 B to the bill is to consider change of zone based on individual requests. Over the last one year, we have not done any change of zone,” he said, adding that the common man will get relief. Sardesai further said that all religious bodies approached him for change of zone. “ In RP 2001, their lands were shown as settlement zones. In RP 2021, they were marked as no-development zones,” he said. Sardesai said that once this bill is passed, then no one will require the TCP department because the TCP would not be required as an interface. “It is a direct TDR bank. It is like a TDR exchange. It is between you and the person buying TDR,” he said, adding that the government is neither a facilitator nor an enforcer or regulator after the zone is decided. “I think there is no reason to postpone the passing of the bill,” he said.

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Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com