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Religious bodies join protest

NT Staff Reporter
Panaji, Dec 16: The Church today once again emphasised its objection to the Regional Plan 2011 because the people of the state were not consulted during its formulation and because the plan does not maintain the proper balance of planning.

The Church re-emphasis comes on the eve of the massive morcha planned at Panaji on December 18 to protest against the Regional Plan.

The Council for Social Justice and Peace (CSJP) has also sent letters to all parishes as well to schools and colleges in the state to participate in the morcha and register their protest to the plan. Addressing a press conference today morning, the CSJP executive secretary, Fr Maverick Fernandes said that the Regional Plan in its present form cannot be accepted by the people of Goa. The CSJP is part of the Goa Bachao Abhiyan, which is organising the morcha on Monday.

Fr Fernandes said the plan violates the process of planning, a fact which the Church brought to the notice of the Chief Town Planner in October 2005 through a written representation. The people were not consulted in the spirit of the 73rd and 74th amendment to the Constitution, Fr Fernandes said.
He also said that the proper balance of planning was not maintained in the Regional Plan draft. As it is, the population density in Goa is more concentrated in the four coastal talukas and the remaining seven talukas are less crowded. Yet the draft Regional Plan lays overemphasis on the four coastal talukas, he said.

Fr Fernandes said that from the beginning, the Church consulted lot of planners and it is evident that the Regional Plan does not follow the process of planning. It is based on the old statistics of 1991, he said.

When asked why the Church is so stridently opposed to the Plan, Fr Fernandes said it is because this is an issue of human rights. We see the divine in the human person. The plan poses a threat to the environment and the ecology, which sustains life and if the environment and ecology gets depleted, human life is at stake, Fr Fernandes said. Touching upon his letter to schools and colleges, Fr Fernandes told ‘The Navhind Times’ that students will be impacted by the plan and that is why they should now raise their voices against the plan.

Meanwhile, supporting the anti-Regional Plan agitation, the pontiff of Tapobhumi, Mathadhish Bramheshanand has appealed to his followers to join the rally. The pontiff assured a delegation of the ‘Save Goa’ as regards Tapobhumi’s support to the cause.

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Religious bodies join protest

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