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People Speak

Goa Learns about Planning

Averthanus L. D’Souza.
The Congress Government of Goa, under the week-kneed leadership of Pratapsing Rane has been forced to scrap the Regional Plan for Goa in 2011 under the determined pressure of the citizens spearheaded by the Goa Bachao Abhiyan. We all hope

that this Government and all future Governments of Goa will take the message seriously to heart that the Goan citizens are intelligent and determined to safeguard the larger interest of Goa and its environment. As was expected, some political parties, like the BJP have tried to draw political mileage from the groundswell of protest against the ham-handed promulgation of a Plan which was both irrational and unprofessional. Likewise, some individual politicians, (of all affiliations) have been playing their own games, since they had a vested interest in the outcome of the protest.

As in all such situations, the citizens of Goa will do well to draw the lessons from this experience. The lessons to be learnt are:

1. Do not rely on politicians to determine what is good for the citizens.

We have had enough of experience in our recent past to know that ALL politicians enter into the public arena of politics, because they have their own individual goals to achieve. They start out as “social workers” and gain popularity in order to get into positions of decision making so that they can proceed to enrich themselves and their families (even) at the cost of the public exchequer.

2. Do not trust the bureaucrats to understand the real needs of the citizens.

Bureaucrats are generally spineless and pliant individuals who are afraid of their political masters. They merely carry out the orders which have been given to them by their Ministers. There are extremely rare instances when a bureaucrat has had the courage to disagree with his political boss and say so with courage. Of course, such courageous bureaucrats are made to suffer (sometimes intensely) by their political masters. Their Service Rules do not permit them to defend their actions publicly.

3 The so-called “Planners” in the Planning and Development Department are inept.

The Ministers in charge of the Town and Country Planning Department of the Government have generally been persons who have no idea whatsoever of what “planning” actually means. They have stuffed their department with ignoramuses who are totally devoid of the competence to plan. The staffing of the TCP department is not based either on technical qualifications or on acquired experience in the area of planning. There are people in the TCP department who think that they have arbitrary powers to do whatever they like. The Chief Town Planner himself, is on record as declaring that he does not need to consult with “anyone” in preparing a Regional Plan for Goa. Even when his attention was drawn to the provisions of the 73rd. and 74th. Amendments to the Constitution of India, he declared that he was not bound by the Indian Constitution. In other words, he places himself above the Law. It goes without saying, of course, that such a Town Planner merely carries out the orders issued to him by the Minister for Town and Country Planning.

4. The Town and Country Planning Department is NOT an implementing agency.

In the context of the recent agitation over the Regional Plan for Goa in 2011, we observed that the TCP department itself had undertaken several “developments,”

mostly in contravention of the laws currently in force. In fact, some of these projects were the initiatives of the Minister for Town and Country Planning or his family. Some of our newspapers published photographs showing the Minister personally supervising the construction works in progress.

There is no provision in the Goa, Daman and Diu Town and Country Planning Act, 1974 which can be even remotely construed to empower either the TCP Department or the Town and Country Planning Board to act as an implementing agency.

The TCP Department and the TCP Board are ONLY Planning Bodies which have the duty to prepare plans and to ensure that any development projects which have been submitted to the Local Authorities are not in contravention of any “approved” Plan – either the Outline Development Plan or the Regional Plan. Citizens should be aware of the fact that it is the Local Authorities – either Panchayats in rural areas, or Municipal Bodies in urban areas – which are the “Licensing” authorities for development projects. In principle, therefore, a Municipal Council or a Panchayat can refuse permission to a project, even if the TCP Department has issued a “No Objection from the Planning Point of View” to an application submitted to it for scrutiny.

5. Approved Plans have to be respected.

The very purpose of planning is to ensure that all developments in a local planning area, or in the State as a whole, takes place in an orderly manner according to an approved Plan. This is why a Plan is “approved” for a period of approximately ten years. This is also why the planning process should be done so carefully and meticulously, taking into consideration the economic, geographical, demographic and ecological circumstances prevalent at the time of planning, and the “reasonable” projection of growth in the different sectors. The key element in planning is the “balancing” of growth in the different sectors to avoid lopsided developments. We have heard the Minister (before he resigned) saying that the Regional Plan was ONLY a Plan, and that no one was bound by it. This itself betrays his crass ignorance about the process of planning.

6. Do we need “outside” Consultants to draw up a Regional Plan?

Our Government has got into a mind-set which can only be described as an insult to the talent and competence available locally here in Goa. We have seen, in the past few years, that for any and every undertaking of the Government, “outside” Consultants have been retained. Even planning the flow of traffic inside Panjim City was entrusted to some so-called “experts” from outside Goa, who did not have a clue about local conditions or about previous plans for flow of traffic. Why is it that a small town like Panjim, which is smaller than any mofussil town in the rest of India, cannot be managed without the help of outside “experts?” The obvious reason is that the Government does not have any confidence in the ability of local professionals to do the job; and, secondly, the allotment of consultancies to outside bodies has become a lucrative business with our Ministers, individually and severally - our Chief Minister not being an exception.

CONCLUSION.

The agitation against, and the success of the citizens in having the Regional Plan 2011 scrapped has taught us some valuable lessons. Foremost among these is that the Government should be “responsive” to the needs of its citizens. The private interests of the Ministers should not take precedence over the Common Good of the citizens. Secondly, citizens should make the effort to keep themselves informed of the workings of the Government. Even the style of functioning of the Cabinet is a matter of concern for the citizen. No Government should take the people for granted. No government should play the fool with the natural resources of Goa. No government should undertake any project without first declaring its intention publicly and calling for public response to such intention.

People Speak

Goa Learns about Planning

From the Discussion Forum